Chief Justice Esther Hayut warned on Tuesday that "anyone who seeks to harm the judiciary's independence will find themselves severely undermining the democratic regime in Israel."
Speaking at an event marking 70 years of judicial independence at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, Hayut explained that "one of the basic conditions for the existence of a true democracy that advocates liberal-constitutional values is the existence of an unbiased judiciary that is independent of other authorities."
She cited an article by retired Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar, in which he called the principle of independence "the soul of judgment."
"Indeed," she said, "if you strip the judicial role of its independence, you take away its soul, and a body without a soul will not succeed."
Hayut lamented that "unfortunately, we have recently seen that there are those for whom the conduct of the [legal] system as unbiased and independent of other authorities is anathema.
"These same people have even gone so far as to describe it as anti-democratic, anti-Zionist and even judicial dictatorship that must be crushed, in exactly those words.
"We must remember that just like any other government authority, we are not immune to criticism," she said. "Nevertheless, one might expect that any criticism, including the criticism directed toward us, would be topical and respectful. When statements that are far from being topical and respectful are made about us, the justices, one might expect there would be someone who denounced them on behalf of the state, to defend its [the judiciary's] honor. Unfortunately, such condemnation has yet to come, even though the statements," which she noted sometimes came from elected officials, "are borderline incitement."
"Democracy is the rule of the people," she said, "but this is not an exhaustive description of the essence of democracy.
"In order for the rule of the many to not become the tyranny of the many, one must guarantee the protection of the rule of law and individual rights and in particular the rights of the minority that lives among us and is anchored among other places in Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, must be guaranteed."
