Last update - 00:00 08/05/2007
Beinisch: Suspects, politicians acting to weaken justice system
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch accused various factors on Tuesday, including criminals, suspects, and political figures, of slandering judges and weakening the justice system.
In a swearing-in ceremony at the President's Residence, the chief justice said that judges were being portrayed in a negative way for unacceptable reasons. She hinted at complaints lodged against her friend attorney Nava Ben Or, who was consequently barred from being appointed judge Monday morning.
"Considerable efforts have been made, mostly by those concerned with the status and the legitimate power of the legal system, to find faults with the justices, to ruin their professional credibility, and to aim unsubstantiated personal accusations at them. The past years have seen a significant trend of invalid claims, which casts the judicial system in a negative light," said Beinisch.
She maintained that these efforts are being made by people who are seeking political power and influence.
Beinisch said that those involved in this process are "suspects who have contact with legal and judicial institutions, and are seeking to weaken the system. Those involved are defendants, or were defendants, acquitted or convicted."
She added that these people are vying to bring down the legal system because "it is a major societal institution that is disconnected from the domineering government system. An institution that is not looking to increase its power, and has no competitive interest in the world of bullies that we live in."
Beinisch accused the "different media outlets" of operating out of "self serving reasons, financial- business reasons, and political ones - in ways that encourage attacks on the judicial system as well as the courts, as part of the 'ratings culture' that has conquered our society, vying for short-term journalistic achievements."
She emphasized that the judicial system is not looking for sensationalistic headlines, but finds itself frequently in the midst of them.
Conditionally appointed to bench last week, Ben-Or will not be sworn in
Attorney Nava Ben-Or wasn't sworn in as a judge at Tuesday's ceremony at the President's Residence, following the justice minister's decision not to call together the Judiciary Appointments Committee (JAC) to ratify her appointment on Tuesday.
It is not clear now whether Ben-Or, a former deputy state prosecutor, will be sworn in as a judge at all. Ben-Or said Monday that if she were not sworn in Tuesday, she would withdraw her candidacy for the post.
"This is completely insane," a JAC member said Monday. "They're trying to take revenge on Ben-Or for her struggle against corruption [as deputy state prosecutor]."
On April 19, JAC approved Ben-Or's appointment as a Jerusalem District judge, but annotated the decision.
The annotation stipulated that because a complaint to the police was pending against Ben-Or, JAC may reconsider her appointment at any time before she was sworn in, should three of its nine members decide that the complaint warrants reconsideration.
Last week the police said they would not open a criminal investigation against Ben-Or. However, former Bar Association chairman Dror Hoter-Yishai sent two complaints against Ben-Or to the committee, regarding the wiretapping conducted by police Major-General Moshe Mizrahi.
Consequently, three JAC members - Interior Minister Roni Bar-On, MK Gilad Erdan and attorney Pinhas Marinsky - asked Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to delay Ben-Or's swearing-in to reconsider her appointment.
Then, in view of Ben-Or's response to the new complaints against her, Bar-On decided to forgo the JAC reconsideration. But last night, Friedmann decided to have JAC reconsider Ben-Or's appointment, though not immediately.
Friedmann rejected the request of JAC member Attorney Yuri Gai-Ron to convene the committee urgently, before the judges' swearing-in ceremony today, to discuss Ben-Or's appointment, or alternatively to swear her in as a judge. Gai-Ron said the attempt to disqualify Ben-Or was wrong.
"I'm sure you know what damage could be caused to the justice system and the public confidence [in it] if judiciary appointments are held up or prevented due to extraneous considerations," he wrote.