Chief Justice Esther Hayut has retained the services of a communications adviser to help in her clashes with politicians and to mobilize public opinion. This is a first in the history of Israel’s Supreme Court.

Since taking office as chief justice in October 2017, Hayut has had to counter attacks from right-wing politicians seeking to curtail the powers of the country’s top court, which, they argue, erodes the authority of the Knesset. This friction between the judicial and legislative branches of government is hardly new. However, Hayut and the court she heads have found themselves under an onslaught spearheaded by a combative and popular politician, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, in a bid to institute judicial reforms.

This is no longer just a case of radical right Knesset members, such as Bezalel Smotrich of HaBayit HaYehudi, regularly harassing the court. Shaked and the chair of her party, Naftali Bennett, are pushing forward a meticulously planned reform that enjoys public backing, even from former Justice Minister Haim Ramon (Labor).

On May 6, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the Override Clause, the flagship of the Shaked-Bennett plan. The bill enables the Knesset to re-enact legislation struck down by the Supreme Court. The next day, Hayut took advantage of a swearing-in ceremony for new judges to deliver a speech castigating proponents of the proposed bill and warning against its consequences. In her widely quoted speech in the presence of Shaked, President Reuven Rivlin and leading jurists, Hayut warned against the loss of the judiciary’s independence. “These are not happy days for Israel’s court system,” she said at the outset of her remarks. “The judicial branch is under a brutal and unprecedented attack that poses a realistic threat to its power and independence.”