The denunciation sparked a sharp response from Levin, who accused Amit of sitting in a \u201cfortress of lies,\u201d which the justice minister bragged of \u201cdismantling brick by brick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levin\u2019s boycott of Amit has been part of a wider judicial overhaul that has seen the government attempt to wrest power away from the courts in moves that have sparked large-scale public protests, with critics saying they are an attempt to break down the system of checks and balances and undermine democracy.<\/p>\n
According to Amit, Levin\u2019s boycott of him and his predecessor, Uzi Vogelman, meant that key positions within the judiciary that need the cooperation of the justice minister and the Supreme Court president cannot be filled, including a president for the Lod-Central District Court, and deputy-presidents for 19 other courts.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat reason is there to refrain from appointing a vice president to the Jerusalem Family Court? Why refrain from appointing a vice president to the Krayot Magistrate\u2019s Court? Why harm all the litigants in the Central District by preventing the appointment of a president to the [Lod] District Court?\u201d Amit asked in his speech.<\/p>\n \t He said he has repeatedly reached out to Levin to restart cooperation, but that his requests have been ignored. \u201cFor about a year and a half, the justice minister has been boycotting the judicial system, thereby boycotting the Israeli public who turn to the courts,\u201d said Amit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe justice minister\u2019s conduct has one clear purpose, which he himself said last April: \u2018What was built here over decades takes time to dismantle, it doesn\u2019t end in one day.\u2019 These words speak for themselves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Levin stopped meeting with Vogelman in mid-2024, when Vogelman refused to accede to a demand from the justice minister to ditch the seniority system for appointing a president, whereby the Supreme Court justice with the most years on the court becomes the sole candidate for the position. The system is intended to prevent politicization of the selection process.<\/p>\n The justice minister then refused to call a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee for appointing a new president, since he did not have enough votes to appoint his preferred pick, Yosef Elron. This led the High Court of Justice to eventually order Levin to hold a vote in January this year after 16 months in which he had refused to do so.<\/p>\n \t Levin has boycotted Amit ever since, refuses to meet with him or address him as president, and has even failed to publish his appointment as president in the state gazette, as required by law.<\/p>\n Amit: Courtroom disruptions \u2018unprecedented,\u2019 unacceptable<\/p>\n In his speech, Amit also expressed concern for harsh rhetoric directed against the judiciary as well as repeated, severe disturbances<\/a> by members of the public inside courtrooms, and said further that in recent years \u201cIsrael\u2019s \u2018airplane\u2019 of democracy has fallen into a turbulent vortex from which we have not yet emerged.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing the courtroom disorder, Amit said: \u201cCriticism is legitimate, but we cannot accept the exploitation of the principle of public discussion in order to undermine the discussion itself,\u201d calling the phenomenon of disruptions \u201cunprecedented\u201d and \u201corganized.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cIn a democratic regime, it is fitting for justice to be done, and to be seen. But we cannot accept attempts to prevent the courts from doing their job,\u201d he said. \u201cThis illegitimate phenomenon is not seen in any democratic regime in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Levin: Amit sits in \u2018fortress of lies,\u2019 I\u2019m dismantling it<\/p>\n Responding to Amit\u2019s speech, Levin accused the Supreme Court president of refusing to respect democracy and went through a litany of complaints against the head of the judiciary.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you think would happen when you and your friends took over the Judicial Selection Committee with an illegal order?\u201d said Levin, in reference to the High Court\u2019s order in January<\/a> for Levin to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee on appointing a new Supreme Court president after he refused to do so for 16 months.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you imagine when you forced a \u2018president\u2019 of the court on the citizens of Israel who tramples on the majority of the public again and again?\u201d Levin demanded.<\/p>\n He also criticized Amit and the Supreme Court for their decisions regarding a government commission of inquiry into the use of spyware by law enforcement agencies, and its decisions over who may supervise an investigation<\/a> into the Sde Teiman leak affair.<\/p>\n \t Levin continued, saying he is \u201cdismantling brick by brick the fortress of lies in which you and your friends sit,\u201d and is \u201cbuilding the legal system anew as it was in its days of greatness under presidents such as [Moshe] Landau and [Meir] Shamgar.\u201d<\/p>\n Ex-justice Barak: \u2018We\u2019re no longer citizens, but subjects\u2019<\/p>\n Also speaking at the conference Thursday was former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, who similarly decried Levin\u2019s approach to the judiciary and questioned whether Israel is still a democracy.<\/p>\n Barak called Levin\u2019s boycott of Amit \u201cdamage to the entire judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking more generally, Barak cited \u201cthe two phenomena of the government\u2019s control over the Knesset, and the prime minister\u2019s control over the government,\u201d saying they place Israel on a trajectory toward autocracy.<\/p>\n \t Additionally, he said, \u201cthe approach to protesters is like that toward criminals. I think we\u2019re no longer citizens, but rather subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n The famed jurist added that \u201cIsraeli statesmanship is seen by the prime minister as a \u2018deep state\u2019 that must be fought against,\u201d and slammed the coalition for its efforts to entrench broad exemptions<\/a> for the ultra-Orthodox community from mandatory military service.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.<\/p>\n So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n Thank you, \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251204FFF00009-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tSupreme Court President Isaac Amit attends a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law (IAPL) in Haifa, December 4, 2025. (Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F250213YS15-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\t(R-L) Incoming Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, President Isaac Herzog and former acting chief justice Uzi Vogelman at Amit\u2019s inauguration ceremony at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan SIndel\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F250408YS145-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tLikud MK Tally Gotliv disrupts a court hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251126YS47-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tJustice Minister Yariv Levin (R) speaks with MK Simcha Rotman during a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251204FFF00005-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tSupreme Court President Isaac Amit speaks with Aharon Barak during a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law (IAPL) in Haifa, December 4, 2025. (Flash90)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DH-new-headshot-circular.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n