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Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Israel's Judicial Dictatorship Strikes Again

The Israeli High Court of Justice used to be a respected institution in Israel. Unfortunately, Chief Justice Aharon Barak's judicial activism has eroded the image of the High Court. The court, under Barak's leadership, began to intervene in political issues which the court had previously avoided. Today the another nail was pounded into the coffin of the credibility of this institution. Professor Ruth Gavison will probably not be selected to join the court.

This morning I heard Kol Yisrael legal commentator Moshe Negbi, known for his ultra left-wing views, commenting on this. Negbi, who is great supporter of Barak's judicial activism, was also upset. He expressed concern that since it is now clear to the public that the appointments to the High Court are not based on legal prowess but rather on issues of Weltanschauung, the decision of who to appoint and who to not appoint will be taken away from the lawyers (who now enjoy a majority on the committee to appoint justices) and will be given over entirely to politicians.

Update: Just came across this interesting post from Judge and Jewry: Above the Din.

2 comments:

yitz said...

Look Cosmic,

Moshiach must be coming. As Batya of Shiloh Musings points out, Israel is not a democracy, but an "elected dictatorship." And as you point out, it's also a "politically appointed dictatorship."

Also, did you notice that the more Sharon brings in corrupt people - today he got Tzachi HaNegbi - the more seats he seems to be able to get [at least in the polls, time will tell for real!]? In the words of Shinui MK Roni Brizon: at this rate, with the Sharon father-and-son MKs, MK Eli Aflalo and the Agrexco mini-scandal, and now HaNegbi, "the party faction can hold its meetings in the Maasiyahu Prison."

Shinui MK Reshef Chen said, "It will be interesting to see which of the corrupt Kadima politicians will take upon himself the job of explaining the party's position on 'clean government.'"

[from Arutz 7's report]

Don't worry, Moshiach's on the way - check out Lazer Beams!

Cosmic X said...

Yitz,

I hope that you are right about Moshiach...we really do need him!

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