Seventy-nine judges and senior court registrars were sworn in at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday. It was the first broad round of appointments after an 18-month selection freeze that deepened shortages across the courts.
One by one, the appointees stood before President Isaac Herzog and made the declaration required by Israeli Basic Law: “I pledge myself to keep allegiance to the State of Israel and its laws, to dispense justice fairly, not to pervert the law, and to show no favor.”
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.
Despite the appointments, 14 judicial positions still remain unfilled, the Court’s Administration told The Jerusalem Post.
The Supreme Court remains the most prominent exception to the progress made in the lower courts, operating with 11 of its authorized 15 justices.
Herzog hosted the ceremony alongside Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justice Minister Yariv Levin. There have been repeated court battles over Levin’s handling of judicial appointments and his refusal to recognize Amit’s appointment as head of the judiciary.
Their speeches reflected the continuing divide. Levin presented the appointments as evidence that the Judicial Selection Committee can reach broad agreement and further diversify the courts. Amit emphasized the value of judicial independence and the obligation of judges to decide cases without fear influencing their judgement.
Levin accuses Judicial Selection Committee of rejecting qualified candidates
Levin said the 79 appointments had joined 211 made earlier in the current Knesset’s term, bringing the total to 290 appointments, which was nearly one-third of Israel’s judges.
The latest cohort was evidence of “a revolution in the human composition” of the judiciary, he said, suggesting that the courts were no longer a closed, homogeneous system, and that the appointees came from different communities, regions, and fields of legal practice.
Regarding the four unfilled Supreme Court seats, Levin said some members of the Judicial Selection Committee had repeatedly rejected qualified candidates because they held a different legal outlook.
“I encountered a stubborn and continuing refusal,” he said, adding that some committee members had treated the Supreme Court as “the home of only part of the people.”
He did not mention Amit by name during his speech.
Levin defended legislation passed in March 2025 that was intended to change the composition and voting rules of the Judicial Selection Committee beginning with the next Knesset. The new system would require broad agreement between the coalition and opposition, which would lead to an increase in diversity and prevent either side from controlling appointments, he said.
Petitioners challenging the law, along with Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, said it would give political officials excessive influence over judges and damage judicial independence. According to the government and the Knesset, it would make the judiciary more representative.
Levin said about two-thirds of Supreme Court seats would come up for selection during the next Knesset’s, and those appointments should be made under the new system.
Amit did not directly respond to Levin’s criticism. He opened his address by quoting the Basic Law’s guarantee that a judge is subject “to no authority other than that of the law.”
Amit told the appointees judicial independence would be tested when they were required to issue difficult or unpopular decisions.
Isaac Amit tells new judges not to be afraid
“Always remember the biblical command: ‘Do not fear anyone,’” he said. “The entire judiciary stands behind you and supports you in your work.”
Amit described the strain placed on the courts by successive national crises, especially following the October 7 massacre. Judges were required to decide urgent and deeply personal applications, including requests to retrieve sperm from fallen men and to appoint guardians for children who had lost their parents, he said.
Courts continued operating from shelters, temporary locations, and remote hearings, while court employees worked to maintain services, Amit said, adding that judges, registrars, and court staff were “the beautiful face 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. It selected 26 additional judges and registrars three days later.
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 about a year and a half without what he called broad agreement on the candidates. Appointments imposed without consensus would deepen divisions regarding the judiciary, he said.
The disagreement did not permit Levin to leave the committee inactive indefinitely, the High Court of Justice unanimously ruled on May 31. It ordered him to take the necessary steps to fill district court vacancies, prioritizing 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 appointments could no longer be completed before the election, saying the time pressure followed his prolonged refusal to advance them.
Levin rejected the ruling 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 sworn in on Tuesday.
A separate ruling in June ordered Levin to cooperate with Amit on appointments that required action by both officials, including court presidents, deputy presidents, and other senior posts. The court rejected Levin’s claim that Amit had not been lawfully appointed.
High Court forced to order Levin to appoint Amit as Supreme Court president
The dispute dates to Amit’s own appointment. After more than a year without a permanent Supreme Court president, the court ordered Levin to bring the position to a vote. Amit was selected in January 2025 and sworn in the following month at the President’s Residence. Netanyahu, Levin and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana boycotted the ceremony, and no government ministers attended.
Unlike lower-court appointments, Supreme Court appointments currently require the support of seven of the committee’s nine members. That rule requires agreement across its 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 ruled that there was serious difficulty in the country’s highest court operating below full strength for nearly three years, particularly as its workload had increased.
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 mere political criticism.
In speeches in June and September, Amit said serving and retired judges had faced harassment, threats, and personal confrontations. His warnings followed a riot by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) anti-draft protesters outside Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg’s home in Alon Shvut, during which property was damaged while Sohlberg and members of his family were inside.
Herzog focused his remarks on public confidence in the courts and the collective responsibility to protect judges.
“Public trust in the judicial system is not built through major headlines, nor is it destroyed by declarations,” he said. “It is rebuilt every morning.”
Judges were not parties to public disputes, Herzog told the appointees, adding that the state had a duty to protect their independence, security, and dignity.