The conflict between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the judiciary escalated today with Levin deciding not to allow judges to teach in academia. Until recently, Levin signed dozens of approvals for judges wishing to teach, but has stopped recently due to the ongoing dispute with the legal system.
Levin explained to his close associates, "If judges are so busy, issuing orders for convening the committee to appoint new judges to ease the burden - it doesn't make sense for them to have time to teach. It's better if they focus on court backlog."
According to Israel Hayom currently, dozens of judges, including senior district court presidents, teach after court hours, drawing public criticism for exacerbating court delays.
Yesterday, Kan News reported coalition leaders plan a hearing for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, leaving the specifics to Justice Minister Levin. The National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wants the hearing this Sunday; however, no official statement has been made following requests from Minister Gideon Sa'ar and MK Yinon Azulai (Shas).
Earlier, Levin left a coalition party leaders' meeting due to their lack of support for changing the judicial appointment committee's composition.
During the meeting, Ministers Smotrich and Sa'ar suggested splitting the Attorney General's role. Levin retorted, "Again evading change of the appointment committee's composition? That's what we need to do. If you're pretending, sort it out yourselves," and left. PM Netanyahu left shortly after.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's office commented post-incident, stating, "There was no discussion on judicial appointment committee legislation. Naturally, no minister expressed an opinion on a nonexistent discussion. Statements by various parties are puzzling. The Finance Minister supports legislative change of the committee's composition."