Exactly one year after four conservative justices were named to Israel's Supreme Court, Professor Alex Stein and Judge Ofer Grosskopf have now been appointed to join the bench. Six new judges in one year, and not one of them is a proponent of the judicial activism that has caused such significant harm to the governance of Israeli society and our country's way of life in the past 50 years.
Former Chief Justice Aharon Barak explained at length that in a democratic society, it was the court's role to, among other things, serve as a bridge between the country's laws and an ever-changing society. In the name of this principle, the Supreme Court under Barak advanced judicial activism, turned the discourse from one of general obligations to one of individual rights, and in effect promoted a judicial revolution without the recognition customary in civilized countries.
Incidentally, this is the same way in which the Supreme Court entered the political arena and became a bastion for lawmakers and organizations that failed to advance their worldview in the Knesset and among the general public. In recent years, the mood of the public has changed and the damage internalized. The time has now come to build a strong and stable bridge between the court and social reality. Elected leaders should lead. Judges should judge.
Kudos to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked for very quickly realizing that impressive intellectual forces would be necessary in order to change the direction of the Supreme Court and content with Barak's. It takes courage to bring about the appointment of Professor Alex Stein when dealing with a legal community known for identifying with the liberal Left. They used every platform at their disposal to argue Stein was not fit to serve on the Supreme Court and, in the spirit of the time, tried to paint him as a sexual harasser. One must rejoice at the failure of these attempts and hope Stein succeeds in restoring the Supreme Court to its historic status; a status in which, among other things, after completing their tenure, justices do not become commentators in the service of the Left and explain just how much they regret the rulings they themselves issued.
Grosskopf is another judicial talent of great ability. Lawyers who appeared before him in court have praised his gentle manner, quick grasp of the issues, efficiency and legal skills. As a disciple of Daniel Friedman and Menny Mautner, both former deans of the Buchmann Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, he clearly does not belong to the activist line of judges.
At the end of a week that has rattled the Israeli public, let those on the Right and the Left be thankful the Supreme Court is now marching toward necessary change.
