Seventy-nine judges and senior court registrars were sworn in at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, providing long-delayed reinforcement to a court system strained by vacant posts, growing caseloads, and an extended political fight over judicial appointments.
The official roster lists 62 judges and 17 senior registrars. The judges include six appointees to district courts, 44 to magistrate, family and juvenile courts, and 12 to traffic courts.
President Isaac Herzog hosted the ceremony, which started at 5:30 p.m., alongside Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Their joint appearance is notable after repeated court battles over Levin’s refusal to convene the Judicial Selection Committee and his rejection of Amit’s appointment as head of the judiciary.
The appointees were selected during two committee meetings on June 28 and July 1, the first broad round of judicial selections since January 2025. The committee initially selected 53 permanent appointees and temporarily assigned another 15 serving judges to district courts, then selected 26 additional judges and registrars three days later.
The ceremony marks substantial progress, but it does not eliminate the shortage. The appointments followed months of legal pressure on Levin, who chairs the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee.
Levin had declined to convene the committee for approximately a year and a half without what he called broad agreement on the candidates. He argued that appointments imposed without consensus would deepen divisions surrounding the judiciary.
The High Court unanimously ruled on May 31 that the disagreement did not permit the minister to leave the committee inactive indefinitely. It ordered Levin to take the necessary steps to fill district court vacancies, prioritizing the particularly acute shortages in Beersheba and Haifa.
The justices found that the shortage had severely impaired the courts’ ability to enforce the law and provide effective service to the public. They also rejected Levin’s argument that permanent appointments could no longer be completed before the election, noting that the time pressure followed his own prolonged refusal to advance them.
Levin rejected the decision as unlawful and accused the court of taking control of powers assigned to the justice minister. The committee nevertheless convened in late June and approved the appointments, which are now reaching the oath-taking stage.
A separate High Court ruling in June ordered Levin to cooperate with Amit on appointments requiring action by both officials, including court presidents, deputy presidents and other senior judicial posts. The court rejected Levin’s claim that Amit had not been lawfully appointed and said the minister could not rely on procedural steps he had himself refused to complete.
High Court forced to order Levin to appoint Amit as Supreme Court president
The dispute dates to the appointment of Amit himself. After more than a year without a permanent Supreme Court president, the High Court ordered Levin to bring the appointment to a vote. Amit was selected in January 2025 and sworn in the following month at the President’s Residence, in a ceremony boycotted by Levin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the cabinet
Tuesday’s ceremony will not address the vacancies at the Supreme Court, which continues to operate with 11 of its authorized 15 justices.
Unlike appointments to lower courts, Supreme Court appointments require the support of seven of the Judicial Selection Committee’s nine members. That rule requires agreement across the committee’s political and professional blocs and prevents either side from selecting justices alone.
In its May ruling, the High Court expressly stopped short of ordering Levin to fill the Supreme Court vacancies because of that special voting arrangement. It nevertheless said the country’s highest court has faced serious difficulty operating below full strength for nearly three years, particularly as its workload has increased.
The composition and voting rules of the committee may change after the election. Legislation passed in March 2025 would remove the Israel Bar Association’s two representatives and replace them with lawyers selected by the coalition and opposition. It would also alter the majorities required for appointments and introduce a mechanism intended to break prolonged deadlocks over Supreme Court seats.
The law is scheduled to take effect with the next Knesset. Petitioners and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara argue that it would give political officials excessive influence over judges and damage judicial independence. The government and Knesset argue it would make the judiciary more representative and that the legal challenge was brought before the law took effect.
Amit warns of threats, harassment faced by judges
The new appointees also enter a judiciary whose leadership has repeatedly warned that public attacks on judges are moving beyond political criticism.
At the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference in June, Amit said discourse concerning the judiciary had reached an “unprecedented low.” He said serving and retired judges had faced harassment, threats, and personal confrontations, with some judges hesitant to answer calls from unidentified numbers.
Two days later, ultra-Orthodox anti-draft protesters rioted outside the Alon Shvut home of Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg while he and members of his family were inside. Windows and flowerpots were smashed, and a vehicle was damaged. Police detained 62 suspects, and prosecutors later indicted four men over the disturbance.
Amit returned to the subject this month, warning that “the path to physical violence first passes through verbal violence.” He said some court proceedings had been closed to the public because of feared disruptions and that, in more serious cases, court security had escorted lawyers and litigants to their vehicles.
