JERUSALEM — The Judicial Selection Committee appointed 68 individuals to judicial and acting positions across Israel's court system on June 28, 2026. This action followed a High Court order to convene the committee and marked its first broad round of selections since January 2025.

Fifty-three candidates secured permanent judicial posts in magistrates, family, juvenile, traffic, and district courts. The committee also selected 15 judges as registrars and acting district-court judges for Beersheba, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Nof Hagalil-Nazareth.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who chairs the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee, had previously declined to convene the body for several months. On May 31, 2026, a unanimous three-justice High Court panel ordered Levin to convene the committee, citing serious harm to court services and the public due to a judicial shortage. The High Court specified filling vacancies in the Beersheba and Haifa District Courts as a priority.

Figures presented to the court at the time of the meeting indicated 51 judicial posts were vacant across the system, with an additional 15 expected to open by the close of 2026. The High Court also noted that the 2025-2026 budget allocated funds for 35 new judicial positions. Supreme Court President Isaac Amit stated, "After a long period of preparation and anticipation, I am pleased to announce that the committee convened today and selected dozens of judges for judicial posts across the country." Levin said, "Levin wished the selected judges success in fulfilling their mission."

Among those selected for district-court positions were Efrat Or Elias, Shelly Aisenberg, Amit Yariv, Menachem Mizrahi, Nir Mishory Lev-Tov, and Michal Kaplan Rokman. Five magistrates' court presidents were chosen for future promotion to district courts after completing their current terms. Mizrahi serves as the president of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court and has presided over remand hearings in investigations involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides. Several of Mizrahi's rulings on restrictive conditions imposed on a senior Netanyahu adviser, Yonatan Urich, were reversed on appeal by the Central District Court.

The appointments included seven candidates for magistrates' courts in the North, 10 for magistrates' courts in the Haifa District, and 12 for family courts across Haifa, Central, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jerusalem, and the South. Six candidates were selected for juvenile courts, and 12 for traffic courts nationwide. The 15 acting district-court placements consisted of six judges for Beersheba, seven for Haifa, one for Jerusalem, and one for Nof Hagalil-Nazareth. The committee did not announce permanent appointments for the Beersheba and Haifa District Courts on June 28, 2026, as candidates for these permanent posts had been published in the state gazette earlier in June, typically requiring a 45-day period before a committee vote.

The committee estimates an overall need to fill approximately 150 positions due to promotions creating further vacancies. Judges are formally appointed by the president of Israel and begin their terms after taking an oath of office. The Judicial Selection Committee includes Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, and Justice Dafna Barak-Erez. Its members also include Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock, Knesset Members Karine Elharrar and Yitzhak Kroizer, and Israel Bar Association representatives Yonit Kalmanovich and Muhamad Na'amneh.

Lower-court appointments are generally made by a simple majority of participating committee members. In March 2025, the Knesset amended Basic Law: The Judiciary. This amendment is set to take effect upon the election of the next Knesset and would retain a nine-member committee but replace the two Israel Bar Association representatives with public representatives selected by the coalition and opposition. Several justices raised concerns at a High Court hearing recently that a more overtly political appointment system could affect incentives for judges seeking promotion. No ruling has yet been issued on petitions challenging this amendment.