JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s justice minister said on Sunday that he would convene a committee for selecting judges, after having refused to do so for months as the political opposition charged at his bid to give the governing coalition more clout within the panel.
The proposed shake-up of the Judicial Appointments Committee was among the battles sparked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pursuit of reforms that he said redressed court overreach but critics saw as curbing independence of the courts.
The shock Hamas cross-border attacks of Oct. 7, and Israel’s ensuing declaration of war against the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, have prompted several members of Netanyahu’s government to describe the judicial overhaul as scrapped.
In a letter from his lawyer to the Supreme Court, Justice Minister Yariv Levin pledged to convene the Judicial Appointments Committee within 15 days. The court had been scheduled to hear challenges to his hold-ups, which have resulted in backlogs in filling vacated bench positions.
“The justice minister believes there is no justification for being preoccupied with disputes during a war,” the letter said.
(Writing by Dan Williams, editing by David Evans)
