Israel Supreme Court Pushes Back Against Law To Pack Bench With Right-Wing Judges

Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home Party is one of 28 women elected to the Knesset. Image by FLASH90
Israel’s Supreme Court president accused the country’s right-wing justice minister on Wednesday of bringing “a gun to the table” in a dispute over a proposed reform that could make the court more conservative.
In a letter to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Chief Justice Miriam Naor accused her of failing to voice reservations about a bill that would effectively remove the court’s current veto in a committee that selects new justices.
Shaked has said she wants more conservative judges named to the court, whose oversight and occasional reversal of Israeli laws has drawn criticism from her and other right-wingers. The bill by a far-right legislator could help smooth the way since four slots on the 15-member court are due to open next year.
“Proposing the law at this time constitutes, under the circumstances, bringing a gun to the table,” Naor wrote in the letter released to media.
She suggested it was a bid to influence the outcome of the court’s preliminary consultations with Shaked about a list of nominees.
“I can only interpret your silence as an expression of support … for the bill,” she said, announcing she was suspending appointment discussions with the justice minister, a leading figure in the religious-nationalist Jewish Home party.
Under the current law, a successful candidate for the Supreme Court needs support from at least seven of the nine selection committee members. Three of them are court justices who can block an appointment if they vote the same way.
The proposed change would require only a simple majority, effectively enabling government representatives and others on the panel to push through an appointment over the court’s objections.
In a statement, Shaked’s office said she planned to push ahead with regular meetings of the committee – whether the justices turn up or not – and intends to publish a list of candidates for Supreme Court membership soon. Israel Radio reported the nominees would be announced on Sunday.—Reuters
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.