Justice Minister Nissenkorn to legal establishment: I will be your wall
180 degree U-turn from Ohana
By YONAH JEREMY BOBAVI NISSENKORN(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
In his inauguration ceremony as justice minister on Monday, Avi Nissenkorn made it clear that he would back the legal establishment, telling them “Now, I am your wall.“You will get all of the backing you need so you can do your professional work for the public independently and with pride,” he continued, proclaiming polar opposite messages from outgoing justice minister Amir Ohana.Ohana, in both his inauguration ceremony in summer 2019 and his outgoing speech, emphasized the need to perform surgery on the courts and the prosecution to roll back their interference in government and Knesset business.In contrast, Nissenkorn said that his three cardinal principles would be “guarding democracy, guarding the rule of law and increasing the public faith in the legal establishment.”Though Ohana always paid lip-service to the idea of wanting to enhance public faith in the legal establishment by reforming it, Nissenkorn took a not-so-veiled shot at this approach, commenting that, “no law enforcement or other system is free from error. It is OK to criticize… but it cannot be a basis to delegitimize.”He added that: “The resilience of the courts is the basis of the resilience for the State of Israel as a democracy.”Nissenkorn also emphasized that he would pursue policies to improve socio-economic justice for the weaker sectors of society, something that connects to his background as former head of the Histadrut National Labor Union.Besides Nissenkorn, Ohana and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit were mostly polite to each other, even complimenting each other for a fluid and positive working relationship during the corona period.The two only made small references to their disagreements, despite the fact that their almost constant battles broke onto the front page of almost every news outlet, leaving each side bruised with some public defeats and neither side satisfied.Their last fight – over Mandelblit’s ending the term of Ohana’s candidate for temporary state attorney on May 1 – was illustrative.
Ohana forced Dan Eldad on Mandelblit as his deputy for three months, but only after an extended delay – and the attorney-general forced Eldad out of office despite, his desire to continue for at least another six months.Subsequent to the ceremony, Nissenkorn held his first working meetings separately with both Mandelblit and with High Court President Esther Hayut.