BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday acted to freeze legislation that would have strengthened rightist members on the committee that appoints judges in Israel. The bill had been subject to much criticism from both the legal establishment in Israel, from centrist and leftist members of the Knesset and from senior ministers in the Likud. The Prime Minister’s Office stated that the proposed bill has been frozen so that it could be “‎re-examined,” ‎but sources at the Knesset, according to a Ma’ariv report, said yesterday that they believe that the proposed bill has been buried for good.

‎The proposed bill aimed to modify the structure of the committee for appointing judges by changing the procedure for choosing the two representatives of the Israel Bar Association on the committee, so that there would be a majority for the representatives identified with Justice Minister Neeman, rather than those identified with the Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish. The bill would also have seen the replacement of the secular representative on the committee to appoint religious judges.

This is the latest in a number of pieces of controversial legislation that the prime minister has acted to freeze. Recently, Netanyahu has also froze a bill requiring judicial Supreme Court candidates be vetted by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and also suspended a bill to prevent foreign governments from financing NGOs in Israel.