The Judicial Selection Committee unanimously elected Esther Hayut – the only candidate, for the position of President of the Supreme Court. Judge Hanan Meltzer was appointed to the post of Vice-President. He is also a single candidate who was unanimously elected.

MK Nurit Koren of the Likud protested the procedure and boycotted the meeting because she did not want to be a rubber stamp. The chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu faction and the member of the Committee for the Selection of Judges, MK Robert Ilatov, told Srugim: “I would like to congratulate Judge Esther Hayut on her appointment to the presidency Supreme Court. Judge Hayut is a worthy and experienced judge and I therefore decided to support her.

“On the matter of seniority, we reached agreement in the committee that the discussion of the matter should be principled and not personal. We will continue to discuss this matter in principle” Ilatov added.

A member of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, Minister Yariv Levin, harshly attacked the way of choosing the Supreme Court justices. “Today a president was again appointed to the Supreme Court in a fictitious selection process that tramples on all the appointments in the public service that the judges themselves often write about in their rulings.

“It is hard not to be impressed by the insolent manner in which the judges once again appointed the person who will lead them, without anyone daring to compete for the position, while the committee submits itself to their will and submits itself to the rubber stamp,” added Levin, who is considered the firm voice in the government against the judges, the High Court in particular.

“A huge public has long been fed up with the manner in which the judicial system is conducted and the post-Zionist rulings that are frequently released from the table of the judges appointed in the dailies are hidden from view. It is not enough to make speeches – the time has come for action, first and foremost a determined move to fundamentally change the system of judges’ selection so that Zionism and Judaism will return to their proper place on the legal scale” he concluded.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)