Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is not a fan of newly-appointed Justice Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Ayelet Shaked to put it mildly. In addition to her right-wing agenda, which defies Weinstein’s hashkafa, Shaked has announced she will champion the battle to curtail the authority of Israel’s Supreme Court.
In her first address as minister to an Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat two weeks ago, Shaked explained the boundaries of jurisdiction between the legislative and judicial have become blurred and she intends to correct this so that the Knesset is no longer subordinate to the nation’s highest court.
For Weinstein this is nothing less than a declaration of war. Weinstein used the prestigious forum of the annual Herzliya Conference to launch his attack against Shaked.
Weinstein spoke of “those” who feel “the lines between legislative and judicial have been “blurred and they plan to correct this”.
“There are those who believe governance is not in the hands of elected officials but in the hands of the justice system”, stating he disagrees with this assessment. Weinstein announced he is adamantly against Shaked’s plan to push legislation to limit the authority of the Supreme Court. Without mentioning the senior minister by name, he called Shaked’s plan “simplistic and baseless perception of the concept of governance”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Ms. Shaked:
Prove you’re up to the job, and get The Jewish Nation Bill moving forward [or some of it at least]
The AG serves as legal counsel to the government and serves at its pleasure. If the AG has a fundamental difference of opinion with the government that will not allow him to work with the Minister of Justice, he may resign or be replaced.
What did you expect?
Weinstein to shed the feather in his hat in defeat, he believes that the Supreme Court is Supreme and Godly. Hope that Shaked shows him the new path to justice.
Shaked has no legal training. Had Barack Obama appointed a non-lawyer to a position like this the Republicans would be screaming. And they would be correct.
#1- She can’t. UTJ is opposed to the Jewish Nation Bill and it demanded in the course of its coalition negotiations with the Likud that the coalition shall not pursue the bill, and the Likud agreed. That was one of the reasons that Leiberman gave for his refusal to join the current coalition.