We addressed the Attorney General of Israel and made our demand clear: an inquiry committee regarding the Effi Naveh Affair needs to be established. Thousands of citizens have alrady signed our public petition regarding the matter.

Just when we thought we have heard and seen everything, a new affair just popped out in the press, with claims about  sex in return for nomination – allgedly, of course. Effi Naveh, former chairman of Israel Bar Association, is the person in the centre of this new affair.

According to publications, a police inquiry has been going on concerning the conduct of the Committee for the Appointment of Judges in general and that of IBA chairman Effi Naveh in particular. According to what has been released for publication up to now, there are suspicions of sever offenses concerning integrity, bribe, fraud and breach of trust, all of which can cast heavy shadows on the Committee’s conduct as a whole. This affair harms not only the people directly involved but also the public’s trust of the judicial system altogether. The Committee for the Appointment of Judges is the judicial system’s holy of holies whose ethical image – that is supposed to be impeccable – is being harmed by publications such as the current affair. The more the rising of doubts regarding the propriety of the Committee’s decisions the greater the public’s distrust of the judicial system and the authorities. The resulting public cost might be high, as well as the social prices we will be forced to pay for this affair. The damage is so severe that it requires an intensive and comprehensive inquiry of the complete procedure of appointing judges throughout the time of Naveh’s service as IBA chairman. As consequently the establishing of an independent State Commission of Inquiry is unavoidable, we contacted PM Binyamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Avihai Mandelblitt in demand of establishing such a commission that will genuinely and extensively examine all that happened in this Judges Appointment Affair. We have backed up our call with a public petition signed by thousands of citizens. The current call follows another one made earlier this month to the Minister of Justice in demand to expose all of the judges’ appointments in which Naveh had been involved.

Sign the petition (in Hebrew)