The Knesset Home Committee voted on Tuesday to appoint Likud MK Ofir Katz as the Knesset’s representative on the committee responsible for electing a watchdog for the judicial system, officially known as the Ombudsman of the Israeli Judiciary.
The ombudsman is responsible for hearing complaints against all judges with statutory powers, including judges in criminal courts, transportation courts, family courts, and also religious courts, and can initiate disciplinary proceedings against them, the harshest of which is a recommendation to remove a judge from his or her position.
Prior watchdogs were a joint appointment by the Justice Minister and Supreme Court Chief Justice. The former watchdog, former high court judge Uri Shoham, finished his tenure in May 2024, and Justice Minister Yariv Levin has since refused to cooperate with interim chief justice Uzi Fogelman and current Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit to appoint a new one.
The coalition resumed legislation of a new appointment method soon after Amit was appointed as permanent chief justice in January, despite efforts by Levin to block it. On March 4, the coalition passed the law, which de facto gives it control of the next appointee.
Its justification for changing the law was that the chief justice should not have a say in appointing the person who could address complaints against the chief justice himself.
According to the law, the new ombudsman will be appointed by a committee comprised of the justice minister; the labor minister; two judges – one appointed by the high court bench and the other appointed by the chief justices of Israel’s regional courts; a retired religious judge appointed by the two chief rabbis; the National Public Defender; and a Member of Knesset.
Majority choice
The current coalition will have a 4-3 majority, as it has used its Knesset majority to appoint Katz, in addition to the two ministers. Furthermore, the two chief rabbis are politically aligned with the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, which are part of the governing coalition.
A government-appointed watchdog could serve as a way to apply pressure on Amit. Levin and several other government ministers and MKs have announced they do not recognize Amit’s appointment due to what they claimed was insufficient treatment of complaints that surfaced in the weeks prior to his appointment.
The complaints mainly stated that he had ruled in cases in which he had a conflict of interest. The police looked into the claims and decided they did not warrant an investigation. Amit issued detailed explanations to each complaint, including to the Judicial Selection Committee, before his appointment was approved.
Later on Tuesday, the Knesset Constitution Committee was scheduled to appoint the Knesset’s representative to the advisory committee responsible for hearing the government’s case to fire Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, led by retired High Court Chief Justice Asher Grunis.
However, the coalition could not agree on its preferred candidate, and committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman delayed the vote.
Seven MKs offered their candidacy – Likud MKs Avichai Boaron and Moshe Saada; Shas MK Yinon Azulay; Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky; Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kreuzer; Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz; and Rothman himself.
Segalovitz removed his candidacy on Tuesday after Yesh Atid said that its members “would not take part in the destruction of the judicial system.” Malinovsky criticized the move, urging her fellow opposition members to cease the “boycotts.”
However, the real struggle behind the scenes was between the coalition parties. The coalition parties have a majority in the committee, and thus, their candidate was expected to be elected with near certainty. But they could not come to an agreement, and for procedural reasons, the vote can only be held in two weeks.