Justice Minister Yariv Levin: Time has come to return to judicial reforms

Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said during the government’s weekly meeting on Sunday that the time had come to return to the government’s controversial judicial reform, drawing criticism from members of the opposition.

According to a spokesperson for Levin, the justice minister’s comments came in response to calls from a number of ministers to fire Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara over claims that she was intentionally tripping up the government and preventing it from implementing its policies on several issues.

The spokesperson said that Levin’s response was that “the starting point of the whole matter is the necessary change in the High Court [of Justice],” and that if this time, as opposed to 2023, the “ranks in the coalition will be straightened,” a change could be made and Levin would “call on the opposition to reach agreements.”

Some reports, which could not be confirmed, stated that Levin said that the government should return to the reform “at full force.”

The comments came after the Attorney General’s Office ruled earlier on Sunday that the state could no longer provide daycare subsidies for children of haredi yeshiva students who were legally required to serve in the IDF. They also came after the government approved a measure to appoint Israel’s next civil service commissioner that the Attorney General’s Office deemed “not legally viable,” a move likely to increase the already high tension between the government and Baharav-Miara.

Levin made similar comments a few weeks ago, and critics have argued that the Knesset has been de facto attempting to revive the judicial reform since MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party left it in June.

Opposition responds to Levin 

Indicators of this included a bill to shift the power to appoint the judicial system watchdog from the Judicial Selection Committee, in which politicians do not have a majority, to a 70-MK majority in the Knesset, and Levin’s refusal to appoint two new High Court justices, as well as a chief justice.

Leader of the opposition, MK Yair Lapid, said in response, “Yariv Levin’s calls to bring back the coup d’état at full force, alongside the government’s aggressive conduct and the calls to fire the attorney-general are a show of unfathomable disconnection from Israel’s citizens.”

“They did not learn anything,” Lapid continued. “Last time the coup d’état weakened Israeli society, and then came October 7. Instead of treating the abandoned north, the residents of the South who cannot return to their homes, [and striking] a deal for the hostages who are languishing in Hamas’s tunnels, they are busy trampling the rule of law.

“We will not enable the most extreme government in the history of the State of Israel to continue its moves to advance the coup d’état. We will use all the tools at our disposal. All of the options are on the table,” Lapid said.

Gantz said in a video statement, “This government, which wants to survive politically, attacks the attorney-general and the court for the Knesset’s own failures. I wish to support the attorney-general and all civil servants who are doing their jobs loyally while facing cowardly attacks. Keep serving the country, without bias or fear.”