Yesterday's joint statement by former Supreme Court presidents Aharon Barak and Meir Shamgar can serve as the basis for promoting legislation to render the courts independent, as the statement urges.

The justices enjoy personal non-dependence, and are subject only to the law in judicial matters, as laid out in the Basic Law on the Judiciary. But at the same time, the judicial system does not enjoy collective-administrative independence. The courts constitute a subsidiary division in the Justice Ministry, and the justice minister has numerous powers when it comes to temporary appointments to the bench, allocating positions and distributing them among the courts, setting up new courts, and everything to do with allocating financial resources. The judicial system is extremely dependent on the minister.

In 1996, a committee of experts headed by retired Supreme Court justice Yaakov Kedmi recommended severing the judiciary from the executive branch and granting it administrative independence.