Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez reprimanded Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday, accusing him of abusing his power as chairman of the Judicial Selection Committee to veto judicial candidates he does not approve of and block votes on their appointment.

The three justices, all members of the Judicial Selection Committee, pointed out in a letter that there is a severe shortage of judges on numerous magistrates’ and district courts around the country due to Levin’s ongoing refusal to convene the committee, and called on him to schedule five committee hearings and votes within 45 days to fill the empty positions.

Levin sent a letter on Friday to committee members stating his intention to convene the committee in order to appoint judges to traffic, family, and youth courts, which he said were heavily understaffed.

But the Supreme Court justices insisted that the lack of judges in the magistrate’s and district courts is more pressing, accuse him of “crassly ignoring” the need to appoint  13 judges to the Haifa and Beersheba District Courts, and further asserted that Levin’s claims regarding the needs of the traffic, family and youth courts are not backed up by professional assessments from the Israel Courts Administration.

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