Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday morning held a hearing on a petition demanding that Justice Minister Yariv Levin end his boycott of Supreme Court President Yitzchak Amit and cooperate with him to appoint new judges to Israel’s court system, or alternatively transfer his authority to another minister.

Levin has boycotted Amit since he was “elected” as the president of the court after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara bullied the judicial system into electing him by prohibiting the Judicial Selection Committee from investigating multiple serious allegations against him. Since then—due to Levin’s boycott—no judicial appointments have been made despite numerous vacancies on numerous courts throughout the country since they require the agreement of the Justice Minister and the Supreme Court President.

The petition was filed by the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights, headed by former Meretz party chairwoman Zehava Galon.

During the hearing, Levin’s lawyer, Attorney Yoram Sheftel, argued that the European Union provides substantial funding to the Zulat Institute and is therefore effectively behind the petition, which, among other things, in practice seeks to remove a sitting Israeli minister. He also described the organization as hostile to the State of Israel.

Sheftel said, “In Yiddish they say, ‘Whoever has the money has the say,’ and the one with the money in this petition is the hostile European Union—Spain, Italy, and France—which imposed an arms embargo to prevent us from winning a war of survival…they are the petitioners here. The EU has funded this petitioner with 869,000 shekels over the past three years alone.”

In a written response submitted on Wednesday to the Court, Levin also stated that “the European Union is working to topple Israel’s government and funds protests against it.”

Levin further wrote, “This is a reality in which election day is replaced by petition day—effectively a governmental coup. I will not bow to this improper process. No attempt to remove me will stop me from fulfilling my mission. The days when justice ministers submissively accepted the erosion of their authority by the judiciary are over. The court has no authority to replace the will of the people.”

Justice Ofer Grosskopf attempted to interrupt Sheftel’s arguments, saying that the court never concerns itself with the identity of the petitioner.

At the beginning of the hearing, Sheftel said, “I am not representing only the minister, but the millions of voters who stand behind him.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)