In a 37-1 vote, the Knesset plenum passed a law that will
allow the appointment of associate judges. A magistrate court
or district court judge who retired will be allowed to return
to the bench for a maximum of four years to help relieve the
backlog of cases.
The plenum also approved an amendment submitted by MKs Rabbi
Moshe Gafni and Nissim Zeev that extends the law apply also
to dayonim at the Rabbinate botei din where
there is also a backlog of cases.
The proposal was approved as an interim order for a period of
four years, after which the issue will be raised for review.
The aim of the proposal is to allow the retired judge or
dayan to contribute his experience to ease the burden
on the court system.
The vote on the proposed law was at first postponed when its
sponsor, Constitutional Committee Chairman MK Michael Eitan
(Likud), pulled it off the agenda at the last moment after
realizing that it lacked a majority for passage without the
amendment on the issue of extending the innovation to the
Rabbinate Botei Din. Eitan was hoping to pass the bill
without the amendment at a suitable opportunity.
MK Rabbi Gafni then sent a letter to the Knesset Chairman
objecting to his conduct, and effectively blocked the law
from being proposed without the amendment that he had added.
He wrote that as it stands, the law regarding associate
judges was "embroiled in controversy" because certain MKs (he
and MK Nissim Zeev) wanted it to include dayonim.
Generally, controversial proposals are not brought to a vote
while the Knesset is meeting within a recess, as it is now.
As such, Rabbi Gafni writes, Eitan should not be allowed to
submit the proposal unless an agreement is reached.
Following the letter MK Eitan agreed to include the
dayonim in the law, thereby making it uncontroversial
and eligible for a vote during the recess meeting. It was
eventually passed with the amendment that would allow
associate dayonim to be appointed to the Rabbinate
botei din.
