The Supreme Court ruled this evening (Sunday) in a judgment agreed by all members of the panel that Justice Minister Yariv Levin must convene the Judicial Selection Committee.
The committee is to convene to select judges for the district courts, with priority given to the district courts in Beersheba and Haifa.
Minister Levin has refused over the past year and a half to convene the Judicial Selection Committee after no agreement was reached on which candidates were to be presented to the comittee
The judiciary argued that a severe shortage of judges has developed at all levels, causing serious harm to the service provided to the public.
The judges wrote in their decision that "For a period of approximately a year and a half the Judicial Selection Committee was not convened due to the lack of broad agreement concerning the candidates to be chosen. During this period many judicial posts in the district courts became vacant, and the expectation is that a considerable number of additional posts will become vacant by the end of 2026."
The ruling added that "This reality, together with the enormous and growing burden placed on the system, makes the need to appoint judges urgent. When this is combined with the approaching election date, and the constraints that could affect the ability to select judges as a result, the conclusion is that the Minister of Justice must act immediately so that the appointments can be completed before the election period."
"In these circumstances, there is no choice but to determine that the Minister of Justice must publish the list of candidates for judgeships in the district courts without further delay, giving priority to the district courts in Beersheba and Haifa, where the immediate need is particularly evident, and concerning which we order that the list be published within 7 days," the ruling says.
Minister Levin denounced the decision: "This is an illegal decisionin which the judicial authority takes over the Judicial Selection Committee, in direct contravention of the provisions of the law."
"If any of the judges wishes to run the Judicial Selection Committee and set its convening dates, they are invited to take off the judge's robe, run for the Knesset, try to be elected, and, in negotiations toward the formation of a government, demand the Justice portfolio. That is what the law provides, and it applies to the judges themselves. Three judges have, with their own hands, created an unprecedented constitutional crisis, and all responsibility rests on them," Levin said.