Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich launched a scathing attack Sunday morning against the High Court amid its controversial hearing regarding the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee, during which Justice Yitzchak Amit justified striking down a Basic Law.

His suggestion came despite the fact that the judges are in an extreme conflict of interest, overseeing a hearing that concerns the very committee that appointed them to their positions. Additionally, the hearing centered on petitions to annul a Basic Law, which, according to the High Court itself, has the status of a constitution, with the judges lacking any authority to knock such a law down.

“Right now, just beyond that hill, eleven detached people in black robes are sitting there and thinking they are allowed to strike down a Basic Law enacted by the Knesset,” Smotrich said.

“Democracy belongs to the people; they are sovereign. I say to the High Court justices: Don’t you dare. Under no circumstances will we normalize this abomination. You have no right and no authority to strike down the Knesset’s Basic Laws.”

“Take your hands off Israeli democracy. If you want to influence how judges are selected, take off your robes, establish a political party, run for the Knesset, and if you earn the people’s trust, you can become part of the game.”

Smotrich devoted a significant portion of his remarks to criticism of Justice Yitzchak Amit, following comments Amit made during the hearing about removing politicians from the committee.

“The audacity of Justice Amit is beyond comprehension,” Smotrich said. “The Knesset, which is sovereign, legislated and decided what the committee would look like, but he—who appointed himself the High Court president without authority—wants to remove the politicians from the committee. Maybe he should declare himself ruler of Israel and put an end to this charade of pretending we have a democracy.”

“If anyone should be removed from the committee, it’s the judges, who are the biggest politicians of all. They have none of the checks and balances of the ballot box through which democratic representatives are elected, yet they trample on it.

“The state belongs to the people. They are sovereign. Don’t you dare destroy Israeli democracy.”

The chairman of the Knesset’s Law Commitee, MK Simcha Rothman, also responded harshly, saying, “A judge who issues a ruling on how judges are appointed in a democratic country and on a Basic Law that was passed by a majority of 68 Knesset members is a criminal.”

Likud MK Ariel Kallner stated: “Today’s discussion in the High Court of Justice on the Judicial Selection Law is absolutely illegal—the discussion itself. It doesn’t matter at all what they decide.

“What is happening today is that the judges are deciding how judges will be appointed. They don’t recognize the authority of the legislative branch and the people to have a say in the matter. Such a thing does not exist in any democracy!

“If such a moderate Basic Law amendment, passed by the Knesset, providing complete parity between the coalition and the opposition and applying only from the next Knesset onward, can even be brought before the High Court, it demonstrates that every possible line has been crossed and sends a clear message to the public: ‘You have no authority. Your vote has no meaning. We will intervene in any law your representatives pass, and we will continue choosing ourselves according to the system we deem appropriate.’

“This is what tyranny looks like. And it is our duty to put an end to that tyranny. This is what the next election will be about. Only if we win and receive renewed public support for judicial reform will we be able to fight back and put an end to a tyranny that has already proven it will stop at nothing.

“If, chalila, we lose, we will wake up to a nightmare in which the tyranny of the High Court and its supporters ensures that any attempt at democratization is suppressed for the next 100 years.”

Likud MK Yoav Kisch responded, saying: “Extreme conflict of interest: Not ‘gatekeepers’ – guardians of power. What is happening today in the High Court is a built-in democratic absurdity. The judges are deliberating on the composition of the committee that appoints them. Those who benefit from the current situation are simply blocking the will of the people with their own bodies.

“Millions of citizens did not go to the polls so that a handful of judges could run the country for them. In a democracy, the sovereign is the people, not a disconnected system that tramples the decision of the voter with a heavy foot and invents for itself powers that do not exist in the law.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)