Last update - 00:00 19/03/2007
Committee appoints 15 new rabbinical judges, including 13 ultra-Orthodox
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent
The rabbinical judges appointments committee appointed 15 new judges to rabbinical courts on Monday, 13 of which are ultra-Orthodox.
There currently are roughly 100 rabbinical judges in total and therefore Monday's appointments will have a tangible impact on the rabbinical courts.
MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Union-National Religious Party) and two members of the Israel Bar Association - attorneys Sharon Shenhav and Eli Shmuelian - stormed out of the meeting after failing to reach an agreement with ultra-Orthodox parties regarding the appointments.
The three allege that the ultra-Orthodox representatives arrived at the meeting with a list of candidates that they refused to negotiate over.
Slomiansky blamed Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann for cooperating with the ultra-Orthodox despite that fact that he could have barred the move by avoiding the committee's meeting.
The ultra-Orthodox parties have enjoyed a controlling majority within the committee since Shas joined the coalition.
The large number of available positions within the rabbinical courts is the result of the fact that during the last three years justice ministers refrained from convening the committee in an attempt to evade the power-struggle between Shas, United Torah Judaism, and the National Religious Party.
The ultra-Orthodox parties insisted on convening the committee claiming that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert supports Shas' demand to increase the number of ultra-Orthodox judges within the rabbinical courts.
The ultra-Orthodox appointments were also opposed by a rare coalition of various women's rights organizations, the National Religious Party and various organizations of Reform and Orthodox rabbis.