Jerusalem District Court Vice President Justice Yehudit Tzur has requested to step down after being passed over for appointment to the High Court. Proponents of the ultra-libertarian and champion of the underdog explain the decision not to appoint Justice Tzur is not based on qualifications, but the personal objections of High Court President Justice Dorit Beinish.

Tzur was a former senior prosecutor in the Justice Ministry, and earned a name in the 1980s as she moved ahead against senior ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) officials in what is known as the ‘300 bus affair’.

She is uncompromising in her liberal views and champions the causes of the downtrodden and oppressed as she views them, compelling Jerusalem City Hall for example to grant equal funding for the Open House, representing the to’eva community. She also ruled against funding for schools that discriminate based on the ethnicity of students.

Former Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedman tried to appoint her to the High Court but was overruled by the court’s chief justice.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)