Last update - 00:00 11/12/2007
Shin Bet to perform security checks on potential judges
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The Shin Bet security service will now run security checks on prospective judges, and not the Courts Administration's own security department.
The change follows the need to provide judges with the highest level of security clearance, which only the Shin Bet can provide, the administration decided recently.
The decision comes in line with the Zamir Commission's recommendations of some years ago, due to the highly sensitive material which judges handle, particularly in classified security matters, issues relating to Israel's foreign affairs, and other classified material.
Not every candidate for the bench will undergo the security check; only those whose name has been published on the lists one month before the discussion of their case by the judicial appointments committee, after they have already had their initial interview with a judicial subcommittee.
In accordance with the Shin Bet Law, the Shin Bet will not have the authority to disqualify a candidate for a judicial post, but its opinion will be presented to the judicial appointments committee prior to its final decision on whether to appoint a given candidate.
The Courts Administration stated this week that "judicial candidates have always undergone a security review and following the recommendations of the Zamir Commission, it was decided to raise the clearance level and therefore the review will be conducted from now on by the Shin Bet."
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