Government backs Likud bill to strip bar association of power, hand it to new body

A government panel decides to back a Likud bill to siphon off power from the Israel Bar Association and transfer it to a new, government-headed authority.

Approved just days after the country’s lawyers elected Amit Becher — who has been critical of the coalition’s judicial overhaul push — to head the bar association, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation votes to support a bill that will strip away the bar’s licensing authority and its representation on the committee that selects judges.

The bill’s sponsor, Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, has said he plans to pull the section touching on the bar’s Judicial Selection Committee seats, though it still remains in the legislation.