Minister Yariv Levin (likud) on Monday criticizes Supreme Court President Miriam Na’or harshly, saying that “in every civilized country the earth would have trembled if the allegations against her had turned out to be true. Only here there are individuals who are allowed to do almost as they please.”
Journalist Naomi Levitsky, author of “The Supreme Ones,” revealed a week ago that Na’or keeps a secret computer in her office containing information about all the candidates for judgeships in the Judiciary system, as data regarding individuals who came into contact with the Supreme Court. According to Levitsky, who spoke to Reshet Bet Radio, the database contains “enormous amounts of information” about each individual.
Last week, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office informed the Jerusalem Administrative Court that the “committee of two” which counsels Supreme Court President Miriam Naor on Judicial Appointments holds personal information about the judges being examined. The Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the information held by the Committee of Two “concerns professional as well as personal aspects of each candidate, including data regarding the personality and conduct of the candidate and their private lifestyle.”
Justice Na’or appears to be in violation of the Protection of Privacy Law, which says that the maintenance of a database containing “data on a person’s personality, personal status, state of health, economic situation, professional training, opinions and belief” requires the approval and supervision of the Information and Technology Authority.
The Justice Ministry believes the President of the Supreme Court never received authorization to possess the database in her computer. According to the law, it is the database manager’s duty to submit an application to the Information and Technology Authority for approval to manage the database. The same law empowers the ITA to interrogate the data manager and confiscate the unauthorized database.
The secret committee known as the “committee of two” is comprised of two retired female judges: former Supreme Court Justice Edna Arbel and former District Court Judge Orit Efal-Gabai, who form a position on serving judges wishing to be appointed to the next post. Their recommendations are submitted to Supreme Court President Miriam Na’or.
The District Attorney’s Office submitted its statement to the court in response to a petition by the Movement for Governance and Democracy, which sought to expose information transmitted by the Committee of the Two to the President of the Supreme Court. Only President Na’or receives this information, passing mere summaries to the other members of the Judicial Appointments Committee.