The High Court of Justice on Sunday issued a temporary injunction blocking Justice Minister Yariv Levin from making appointments to a restructured Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI), which is in charge of probing police wrongdoing.
Last month, in one of its final acts, the Knesset passed highly controversial coalition legislation giving the justice minister control over the department through appointments. It also removed the department from under the authority of professional prosecutors and set it up as a separate agency within the Justice Ministry.
The court instructed that “no new actions will be taken to advance the relevant appointments” until after the court reaches an interim ruling on petitions against the legislation.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned against the legislation, praised the court’s decision, calling it an “important decision that at this stage preserves the independence of law enforcement and prevents the justice minister from carrying out a power grab during an election period.”
“DIPI must be a professional and independent body, and not a body that is subject to political influence. The justice minister cannot be allowed to appoint a director for six years through an appointment mechanism in which the minister and his ministry’s director-general hold decisive influence, before the court has ruled on the petitions against the law,” the statement read.
