Aharon Barak Brings His War on Israeli Democracy to the Next Level

Among the many flaws in Israel’s deeply dysfunctional judicial system is the procedure for selecting new justices to the supreme court, which requires that three sitting justices be part of the nine-member judicial-appointments committee. The Knesset has recently proposed modifying the rules, not to change the committee’s makeup but to take away the justices’ veto power over its decisions. In a recent speech, the former court president Aharon Barak—who did much to augment the institution’s power over the elected branches of the government—responded that the court is a “family” and “we cannot bring in someone who is not part of the family,” and encouraged the entire supreme court to resign in retaliation. Michael Deborin comments: