A bill which would likely grant the coalition control over the appointment of the ombudsman for judges was approved by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Tuesday for its final readings to pass the legislation into law.

The draft law has faced heavy criticism from the opposition, which says that it would politicize the post and by extension the oversight functions the ombudsman has over judges’ conduct.

The Attorney General’s Office and other legal authorities have also criticized the bill for both its content and for being advanced when the ombudsman position remains vacant due to Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s refusal to make an appointment until the legislation is passed.

Levin and others in the coalition, including the constitution committee chairman’s Simcha Rothman, have argued that the current law gives the judiciary too much power over how the ombudsman — who oversees disciplinary procedures against judges — is appointed, and that amending it is therefore necessary.

The legislation now needs to be approved in the back-to-back second and third Knesset plenum readings it must pass to become law.

The bill would create a seven-member committee to appoint the ombudsman, in which the current coalition would likely have an automatic majority.

The committee would include the justice minister, who will chair the panel; the labor minister; an MK to be chosen by the Knesset; a retired judge to be chosen by the Supreme Court; a retired judge to be chosen by the presidents of Israel’s district courts; a retired rabbinical courts judge to be chosen by the chief rabbis; and the public defender.

Assuming that the chief rabbis, who are politically aligned with the ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, appoint a rabbinical judge who is inclined to vote with the coalition, the coalition would be likely to enjoy a majority on the committee.

Under the current law, the judges ombudsman is selected by the Judicial Selection Committee, after the justice minister and the president of the Supreme Court agree upon a candidate.

But Levin has refused to meet with the Supreme Court president since last June, meaning that a new ombudsman could not be appointed. The last ombudsman, Uri Shoham, retired in May.

Committee member MK Karine Elharrar of Yesh Atid denounced the legislation, accusing the coalition of carrying out a “regime coup in the shadow of war.”

Elharrar claimed the law was designed to “take control of judges and leave them intimidated, and dependent on the coalition.”

“This is a political takeover of the committee which appoints the judges ombudsman, the battle for democracy won’t end here,” she added.

Rothman rejected the opposition’s arguments, stating that the current system gives too much power to the judiciary over the appointment.

“The reality in which a sitting judge, and then afterwards three sitting judges choose who investigates complaints about them, is a sick reality that must not be accepted,” said Rothman.

He was referring to the Supreme Court president, who selects a candidate together with the justice minister, and the three Supreme Court judges on the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee which vote on that candidate.

“The solution is not perfect, but the alternative right now is for them [the judges] to sit down and arrange things amongst themselves, and then Justice [Isaac] Amit will be able to choose who will investigate the complaints against him, this is unacceptable,” insisted Rothman.

The MK was referring to allegations of misconduct made recently against the new Supreme Court president just before he was appointed. Levin and the entire government has refused to acknowledge Amit as the new Supreme Court president, in an unprecedented dispute between the government and the judiciary.