Last update - 00:00 23/01/2008
Ex-chief justice calls on MKs, ministers to oppose Friedmann's reforms
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Aharon Barak, the former president of the Supreme Court, called on MKs and ministers Wednesday evening to vote against Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's planned judicial reforms.
"I say to the leaders of the state: Don't lend a hand to proposals that will change the expressed purpose of the legal establishment," Barak said in an address to the eighth annual Herzliya Conference of the Institute for Policy and Strategy.
Friedmann has come under fire from key members of the judiciary over his efforts to draft a bill that would restrict the Supreme Court from ruling on political, security and budget matters, as well his plans to alter the selection committee for Supreme Court justices.
Barak called on government ministers and MKs who until now have not announced their positions to express opposition to Friedmann's initiatives.
The former Supreme Court president declared: "Abstention from the defense of the judiciary is an attack on it. Preserve the method for selecting judges in Israel, so political and factional considerations do not grow in strength, and so we do not become a third world country."
Barak, speaking with emotion, added that: "I observe our achievements in the field of law and judgment in the state's sixty years and my heart is filled with worry for the future."
While Barak criticized the justice minister's initiative, he did not mention Friedman by name in his speech, which was titled "sixty years of judgment in Israel." He said he was aware of the need for changes, "but the necessary changes are not the changes proposed at present. Neither a professional discussion nor a minimal public debate preceded these proposed changes, the results of which will be a severe blow to the values upon which our democracy is founded."
Related articles: