BySARAH BEN-NUN

The recent occurrence of elected government ministers who refuse to adhere to the legal advisory is “not a [judicial] reform, it is the crushing of democracy, it is a State without law,” attorney-general Gali Baharav-Miara said on Thursday at a farewell event for Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, one of the ministers that Baharav-Miara referenced, sat just three seats away as she delivered her speech.
 
The intense disagreements between the most senior figures in Israel's judicial world Israel converged at this event. 

With Elron's retirement, the number of Supreme Court justices has dropped to 11.


“This lacking is something we feel already, and is clear to all," said Levin. "Diversifying the entire system and appointing judges who have different backgrounds and world views is the way to complete the panel in a way that will restore the public's faith in it and give it the professional backing it needs.”


Outgoing supreme court justice Yosef Elron attends a ceremony in his honor at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. September 18, 2025.
Outgoing supreme court justice Yosef Elron attends a ceremony in his honor at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. September 18, 2025. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL)

"The state of Israel needs more judges like you" 

To Elron, Levin said, “Your appointment to the Supreme Court should've been natural and not so divisive. There were those who chose to ignore your wide contributions and your proven talents; today, there are no disagreements about it. The State of Israel needs more judges like you.”
 
Baharav-Miara said that judicial independence is “the crown jewel of the judiciary and of a democratic system as a whole.”
 
In a nod to the judicial reform legislation push, ongoing since 2022 and spearheaded by Levin, she said, “There are claims being made today against the judiciary's independence. Elron did true justice, which was itself rooted in the independence granted to every judge within the system today.”
 
When a ministerial committee voted to dismiss Baharav-Miara in August, citing an inability to conduct a productive working relationship with her, Deputy Supreme Court Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg froze the decision with a court order until it could undergo judicial review. 

And yet, Levin, along with Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, immediately instructed their staff to cease working with, and follow the direction of, the judicial advisors present in every ministry. 

“The efforts to harm this independence, including the delegitimization of judges, threats, and statements by elected officials that they would ignore legal directives they disagree with - none of these make up a reform. Rather, they are simply a call to destroy democracy, to have a State without law,” she added.

“Harming the judiciary's independence will effectively harm its ability to serve the public - the way that Elron has,” she concluded.