Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s candidate for the judicial selection committee lost in a secret-ballot vote in the Likud faction on Monday, in what has been interpreted as a vote of no-confidence in his leadership.
Netanyahu ran MK Keren Barak for a slot on the committee, which is set to choose six Supreme Court judges over the next four years and dozens of lower-level judges. But the Likud MKs voted 18 to 11 in favor of MK Orly Levy-Abecassis
Levy-Abecassis was seen as the candidate of Haim Katz, head of the Likud Central Committee. Likud officials denied that the vote had anything to do with Netanyahu.
“There were two excellent candidates, and no one was connected to anyone,” Likud MK Israel Katz told KAN Radio on Tuesday morning.
The Knesset will be voting on Wednesday for its two representatives on the committee. Traditionally, one is chosen from the coalition and one from the opposition. The coalition will field only one candidate, Efrat Rayten of Labor.
Levy-Abecassis was set to run not only against Rayten but also against Joint List MK Osama Saadi and three candidates from the Religious Zionist Party: MKs Simcha Rothman, Orit Struck and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Likud faction chairman Yariv Levin later persuaded Struck and Ben-Gvir to drop out and support Rothman and Levy-Abecassis.
The winners will join ministers Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) and Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) on the committee, along with representatives of the Supreme Court and the Bar Association.
The Knesset will also vote for its representatives on the selection committees for Jewish, Muslim and Druze religious courts.
The candidates running for the two slots on the Jewish court selection committee are Moshe Arbel (Shas), Shirley Pinto (Yamina) and Gila Gamliel (Likud). The winner will join ministers Matan Kahana (Yamina) and Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) on the committee.