The blow came from within. Until now, the Supreme Court of Israel had been a beleaguered citadel, the last bastion of Israeli-style democracy to resist the current coalition's assault on its independence. But on Wednesday, August 30, Judge Yosef Elron, a member of the country's highest jurisdiction, ran for its top job. In doing so, for the first time in the country's history, he broke the customary rule that had prevailed until now: When the president retires, the oldest judge succeeds him.

"The idea behind the seniority rule was to avoid any competition, any encouragement for judges to please the government. The judiciary is already under considerable pressure (...) The position of president guaranteed its independence," said Guy Lurie, a researcher with the Israel Democracy Institute. Esther Hayut, the current Supreme Court of Israel's Chief Justice (president), is expected to step down on October 16. Judge Yitzhak Amit was expected to take over. Today, no one knows whether this plan will materialize.

Why is Elron weakening the jurisdiction at a time when it is under attack on an unprecedented scale? The answer appears to be a personal vendetta. The magistrate's parents are Jews from Mosul, Iraq. They passed through the transit camps where many Sephardim from North Africa and the Middle East were housed when they arrived in Israel in the early 1950s, often in insalubrious conditions. This treatment fostered a feeling among the newcomers of being second-class citizens to the Ashkenazim who had arrived from Europe. Judge Elron, born in 1955 in Haifa, spent part of his career there and crossed paths with Amit.

Amit was also a magistrate in the coastal city before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009. A Tel Aviv native and former member of the prestigious 8200 intelligence unit, he represents the Ashkenazi elite regularly denounced by the authorities. And it seems that the two were not the best comrades at the Haifa court.

When Elron sought to join the Supreme Court in 2017, Amit tried to stop him. The Israeli media at the time revealed snippets of discussions between judges that the candidate was "not cut out" for the position. In the end, he was imposed by the right-leaning Moshe Kahlon and Ayelet Shaked – Shaked was justice minister at the time – along with three other judges known for their conservative stances.

Publicly humiliated, forcibly appointed, and isolated among his peers, Elron must not have had many reservations about rebelling against the institution. He submitted his candidacy to the Supreme Court Chief Justice and current Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who can not ignore him. The challenger does not have a majority on the judicial selection committee, the body that appoints the country's judges, as it stands.

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