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Aug. 24, 2009 - After considerable effort from the Legal Forum for the
The appointment of the judges was part of a deal which made the appointment of three new judges possible. The judges were: Tel Aviv District Court Judge Uzi Fogelman who was one of Beinisch's favored candidates, Haifa District Court Judge Yitzhak Amit and US-born Beersheba District Court Judge Neal Hendel who wears a kippa and attended Yeshiva of Flatbush in
Initially, the Judicial Selection Committee was considering Fogelman and another judge favored by Beinisch, Beersheba District Court Judge Yosef Elon. Elon, despite his Orthodox upbringing and relation to the former MK Benny Elon (National Union) is considered to be politically to the far Left. In a recent case, he dismissed the appeals of 60 anti-Disengagement protestors against their detention in a single decision.
The Legal Forum had opposed the appointment of both Fogelman and Elon, stating on August 18th that their appointment would demonstrate to the public that the Supreme Court is a social club and would hurt already low public confidence in the Court.
The deal was made possible by the Legal Forum's earlier success in lobbying for the appointment of MK Uri Ariel (National Union) to the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee. The committee is made up of two Knesset members, two government representatives, three Supreme Court judges and two members of the Israeli bar association.
In addition, Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levy, one of three Supreme Court judges on the committee, broke ranks with his fellow judges on the committee. Levy was the only Supreme Court judge to dissent from the Court's decision upholding the Disengagement in 2005.
- Three new Supreme Court Justices Appointed (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 24, 2009)
- MK Ariel: These are the best appointments we could have gotten (Arutz Sheva, Aug. 23, 2009)
- The Supreme Court is no Social Club by Legal Forum Attorney Itzik Baum (Haaretz, Aug. 24, 2009)
