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Levin’s Boycott of Supreme Court President: Assault on Human and Civil Rights and Direct Continuation of Judicial Revolution

>> Read the full position paper

The Justice Minister’s policy of boycotting the President of the Supreme Court represents a profound assault on the rule of law in Israel. When a cabinet minister refuses to recognize or cooperate with the country’s Chief Justice, he is effectively paralyzing statutory mechanisms that require joint action by the executive and judicial branches. This constitutes a violation of the principle of separation of powers and sets a dangerous precedent whereby the executive branch chooses which laws it will obey and which it will disregard.

This policy has direct consequences for the daily lives of citizens: delays in essential appointments, paralysis of the parole board system, shortages of judges and registrars, and severe backlogs throughout the courts. The result is justice withheld, infringement of the right to a fair trial, harm to prisoners’ rehabilitation, and disruption of essential public services that hinge on the proper functioning of the judicial system. The damage is not theoretical, but is already occurring in practice and is eroding public confidence in the judiciary.

Zulat’s petition to the Supreme Court seeks to end this institutional paralysis by compelling the Justice Minister to exercise his statutory powers in accordance with the law and the principles of good governance. The minister’s powers are not a matter of unfettered political discretion, but rather public duties intended to ensure the proper functioning of the judicial system and to safeguard the rights of those who depend on it. The rule of law requires the executive branch to act within the legal framework and not to use governmental powers as instruments in a political struggle at the expense of the public’s rights and the proper functioning of the state.

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.