The Right has become accustomed to a situation in which what is permitted to the Left is forbidden to it. Thus, after years in which the leftist agenda held sway in the courts - with those appointed to the bench holding similar opinions to sitting judges, making the place homogeneous - all of the "defenders of democracy" are clamoring because, after 64 years, the Right has decided that it actually can govern and appoint talented and responsible judges who are not all cut from the same cloth. In a comprehensive newspaper survey conducted last weekend, it turned out that the public thinks it is time for a change. According to the survey, 51 percent of Israelis believe that the High Court of Justice, in its present format, does not represent all sectors of society. The survey also found that 56% believe that the system of appointing judges to the High Court of Justice needs to be changed. Perhaps, as long as we are changing the system for appointments, it would be worthwhile to go back to the early days of the state, when High Court judges were appointed by the Knesset. Supreme Court President Shimon Agranat was not at all a bad choice, for example. In recent years, the Supreme Court has been identified - due to its judicial activism which blatantly interferes with legislative procedures and political decisions, which are the purview of public representatives elected in democratic elections - as a bastion of the Left. My friends and I, no less so than those on the Left, want an independent, activist High Court that serves as a counterweight to the Knesset. No less than that, we want a High Court that is a national body that enjoys the trust of all parts of the nation. But in order for that to happen, the time has come for it to truly represent all parts of the nation, not the very clear agenda of a minority. My friends and I are not caricatures, nor a passing episode. We are here to have an influence. Not to install people who think like us in place of the gatekeepers, but rather to install additional gatekeepers, who represent everyone. My colleagues on the committee and I bear the heavy responsibility ahead of the upcoming judicial appointments, and I am certain that if anyone can save today's court from its nadir in public opinion, it's us. A word about the storm over appointing a Mizrahi judge to the Supreme Court. Appointing a Mizrahi [a Jew of Middle Eastern descent] is important, and I would personally support it with all my heart. But this judge must maintain the standards demanded for this role and act honorably. He must not be appointed only because he is Mizrahi. By this coming April, an additional judge will be appointed to the Supreme Court. I am certain that when the process is over, after four new judges have been appointed, at least one will faithfully represent Mizrahi Jewry, because "like-minded" judges represent everyone. One more small thing to conclude: Decisions are ultimately judged based on their outcomes. During my tenure on the Judicial Selection Committee, we have appointed 140 judges, all of them deserving and talented. To this day, we have not received complaints about any of them. I am certain that when the dust of history settles, we will discover that the current committee, led by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman and Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, performed its job faithfully, preserved the rule of law and restored the public's confidence in the Supreme Court. The writer is a National Union MK and a member of the Judicial Selection Committee.
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