The Judiciary.

Background

Born in Israel to a family rooted in the country's early decades, Amit served in the IDF, practiced commercial law in Haifa, and built his judicial career on the Haifa District Court before his 2009 appointment to the Supreme Court under the Olmert government's justice minister. Widely regarded as a centrist with a pragmatic commercial-law background rather than an ideological one.

Notable record

• Authored numerous opinions in commercial, tort, and administrative law during his 15 years as an associate justice
• Sat on the historic 15-justice panel that, on 1 January 2024, ruled 8-7 to strike down the 2023 Reasonableness Amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, the first invalidation of a Basic Law in Israeli history
• Sat on the same panel's 12-3 majority affirming the Court's theoretical power to review Basic Laws that undermine Israel's core identity as a Jewish and democratic state
• Selected by the Judicial Selection Committee as President in January 2025 despite the Justice Minister's refusal to convene the committee, the meeting was eventually held under an interim chair after months of delay

Today

Leading the full 11-justice bench currently hearing the petition against the March 2025 amendment that restructured the Judicial Selection Committee. Oral arguments were held in June 2026, with judgment expected before the October 2026 Knesset election.

Background

Born in Jerusalem to a family with deep religious-Zionist roots, Sohlberg studied at Yeshivat Hakotel and the Hebrew University, served in the IDF, and built a career in the Jerusalem District Court before his 2012 Supreme Court appointment. Lives in Alon Shvut and has openly identified with the Religious Zionist community, a presence on the Court that helps ensure the bench reflects the full breadth of Israeli Jewish life.

Notable record

• Lead dissenting voice in the 8-7 ruling striking down the Reasonableness Amendment (January 2024), arguing that the Court should not invalidate a duly enacted Basic Law absent the clearest possible breach of Israel's foundational identity
• Long record of opinions urging judicial deference to security decisions of the elected government and the IDF, particularly on counter-terrorism and West Bank matters
• Authored thoughtful opinions on the proper accommodation of religious practice within state institutions, including kashrut, Shabbat, and the religious education system
• Widely respected across the political spectrum for the rigor of his reasoning and the consistency of his restraint-based approach

Today

Continues as one of the most influential justices on the bench, frequently writing the leading conservative opinion when the Court divides. Often cited as the natural future leader of any reconstituted Court following the 2025 selection-committee reform.

Background

Born in Israel, Mintz served in the IDF as a paratrooper, studied law at Bar-Ilan University, and built a 17-year career in the Jerusalem District Court (eventually as its acting president) before his 2017 Supreme Court appointment under the Ayelet Shaked-led Selection Committee push to broaden the bench's representation. His residence in Dolev was itself a marker that the Court need not be confined to a narrow geographic or ideological band.

Notable record

• Joined the conservative dissent in the 8-7 reasonableness ruling, arguing that the elected Knesset's amendments to Basic Laws warrant the strongest presumption of validity
• Authored opinions reinforcing the legitimacy of Israeli civil administration in Judea and Samaria and the application of Israeli law to its Jewish residents
• Conservative voice on petitions challenging IDF and security operations, generally deferring to professional military judgment
• Quiet but consistent defender of religious institutions including the Chief Rabbinate's authority over personal status

Today

Sitting on the full-bench panel hearing the petition against the 2025 selection-committee amendment. Will reach mandatory retirement age in 2029.

Background

Born in Israel into a religious-Zionist family, Willner studied law at Bar-Ilan University, served in the IDF, and built her career in the Haifa District Court, where she specialized in family law and complex commercial disputes, before her 2017 elevation to the Supreme Court as part of the cohort that broadened the bench's representation.

Notable record

• Authored numerous opinions developing Israeli family and matrimonial property law, generally with sensitivity to the role of Jewish religious law in personal-status questions
• Joined the conservative side on key separation-of-powers questions while regularly building majorities on technical commercial appeals
• Has spoken publicly about the importance of observant women's voices in the legal profession and in Israeli public life more broadly

Today

Sitting on the full-bench panel hearing the petition against the 2025 selection-committee amendment.

Background

Born in Israel, Elron served in the IDF, studied law at Tel Aviv University, and built a 25-year career on the Haifa Magistrates' and District Courts, eventually as President of the Haifa District Court, before his 2017 elevation. His appointment reflected the value of seasoned trial-court experience on a bench increasingly drawn from the academy.

Notable record

• Authored carefully reasoned opinions in criminal and administrative law applying long judicial experience to factually complex cases
• Joined the conservative side of several key separation-of-powers decisions while building consensus on technical questions
• Brings a practitioner's perspective to debates over judicial procedure and trial-court reform

Today

Continues as a senior associate justice. Approaching mandatory retirement age within the decade.

Background

Born in the Soviet Union, Stein immigrated to Israel as a young man, served in the IDF, studied law at the Hebrew University, and completed a doctorate at the London School of Economics. He spent more than two decades teaching in the United States, at Cardozo and Brooklyn, and is the author of internationally cited works on evidence and procedural law, before his 2018 appointment.

Notable record

• Has brought rigorous law-and-economics and evidentiary analysis to opinions across the docket
• Joined the conservative wing in the 8-7 reasonableness dissent, drawing on comparative constitutional materials
• Frequently engages with American and European judicial scholarship in his writing, a useful comparative perspective in a Court that operates within a uniquely Israeli constitutional framework

Today

Continues as one of the bench's most prolific writers, with a steady stream of substantive opinions on commercial, evidentiary, and constitutional questions.

Background

Born in Israel, Grosskopf served in the IDF, earned his doctorate at Tel Aviv University, and built an academic career as a leading scholar of contract, antitrust, and corporate law before his 2019 Supreme Court appointment. Author of widely cited works on the economic analysis of Israeli private law.

Notable record

• Authored substantial opinions developing Israeli contract, consumer-protection, and antitrust law
• Generally aligned with the moderate center of the bench, joining majorities across the political spectrum
• Frequently writes detailed concurrences engaging with the economic and policy dimensions of legal doctrine

Today

Continues to anchor much of the Court's commercial and economic-regulation docket.

Background

Born in Jaffa to an Arab Muslim family, Kabub studied law at Tel Aviv University, practiced commercial law in private practice, and served on the Tel Aviv District Court for 12 years (specializing in complex commercial cases and class actions) before his February 2022 appointment to the Supreme Court, the first Muslim Arab to hold the office.

Notable record

• Authored leading opinions in Israeli class-action and commercial law during his district-court tenure
• His Supreme Court appointment was supported across the political spectrum and welcomed by Israeli Arab civil-society organizations as a milestone for representation
• Continues a tradition of distinguished Arab jurists in Israeli courts, the first Arab Supreme Court justice, Salim Joubran (a Christian), served from 2003 to 2017

Today

Continues to hear commercial and administrative cases as a sitting justice; his presence on the Court is a quiet, daily refutation of the slander that Israel denies its Arab citizens full participation in public life.

Background

Born in Israel, Barak-Erez served in the IDF, completed her doctorate at Tel Aviv University, and built a leading academic career as a scholar of administrative, constitutional, and comparative law, eventually serving as Dean of the Tel Aviv University law faculty, before her 2012 Supreme Court appointment.

Notable record

• Joined the 8-7 majority striking down the Reasonableness Amendment in January 2024
• Authored opinions developing Israeli administrative law with attention to procedural fairness and the rights of individuals against state authorities
• Widely published on comparative constitutional law; frequently invited to address international judicial gatherings as a representative of the Israeli bench

Today

Sitting on the full-bench panel hearing the 2025 selection-committee challenge.

Background

Born in 1936 in Kaunas, Lithuania, Barak survived the Holocaust as a child in the Kovno Ghetto, smuggled out in a sack and hidden by a Lithuanian family until liberation. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1947, studied at the Hebrew University, served as Attorney General (1975-78), and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1978. As President (1995-2006), he led the Court through the post-1992 Basic Laws period and the United Mizrahi Bank ruling (1995) that established judicial review.

Notable record

• United Mizrahi Bank v. Migdal (1995): established that the Supreme Court may invalidate ordinary statutes that violate the 1992 Basic Laws, the 'constitutional revolution'
• Authored landmark rulings on administrative law, freedom of expression, and the right to equality
• Sat on the Israeli delegation to the Camp David peace negotiations with Egypt in 1978 as legal advisor
• Author of internationally cited works including 'The Judge in a Democracy' and 'Purposive Interpretation in Law'
• His judicial-activism approach is sharply contested in Israel today, many Israelis across the religious and political spectrum view the expansion of judicial review as having gone too far, and the current constitutional debate is in significant part a response to it

Today

Retired in 2006 at mandatory age 70. Continues to write, teach, and engage in public debate; has been a vocal critic of the 2023 judicial-reform package while also defending the legitimacy of democratic discussion about the Court's role.

Background

Born in 1953 in Herzliya to parents who survived the Holocaust in Romania and the Soviet Union, Hayut served in the IDF, practiced commercial law, and joined the Tel Aviv District Court in 1990 before her 2003 Supreme Court appointment. She became Vice President in 2014 and President in October 2017.

Notable record

• Authored the 8-7 majority opinion of 1 January 2024 striking down the Reasonableness Amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, issued from semi-retirement under the statutory three-month window that allows justices to complete cases they heard before retirement
• Joined the 12-3 majority on the same panel affirming the Court's theoretical authority to review Basic Laws that undermine Israel's core identity as a Jewish and democratic state
• Wrote the 10-1 majority opinion in 2021 upholding Basic Law: Nation-State, the first time the Court formally reviewed a Basic Law on the merits and declined to invalidate it
• Led the Court with public dignity through the 2023 protest movement, the October 7 Hamas massacre, and the multi-front war that followed

Today

Retired in October 2023 at the mandatory age of 70, just nine days after the October 7 Hamas atrocities. Continues to engage in public legal discussion as a respected former president.

Background

Born in Israel, Baharav-Miara served in the IDF, studied law at the Hebrew University, and built a long career in the State Prosecution, eventually as Tel Aviv District Attorney for civil matters, before her February 2022 appointment to the Attorney General role under the Bennett-Lapid government. The Attorney General position combines four constitutional functions: senior legal advisor to the government, head of the prosecution system, representative of the public interest, and prosecutor of public officials.

Notable record

• Has issued numerous formal legal opinions during her tenure on the boundaries of government action, particularly around judicial reform, ministerial conflicts of interest, and senior appointments
• Has clashed publicly and repeatedly with the current coalition over the scope of the Attorney General's role; the government has signaled an intention to seek her dismissal, though the legal framework for removing a sitting AG is contested
• Her standing role as the State's representative in court means she has overseen Israel's legal defense at the International Court of Justice against South Africa's genocide charges, a charge Israel rejects in the strongest terms as a libel against a country fighting a defensive war for its survival
• Term scheduled to end February 2029

Today

Continues in office; her relationship with the government remains contested, with periodic public confrontations over the appropriate boundary between legal advice and policy authority.

Background

Aisman built his career within the State Prosecution itself, rising through the criminal-prosecution ranks and serving as Deputy State Prosecutor for criminal matters before his 2021 appointment as State Prosecutor by then-Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. The State Prosecutor reports formally to the Attorney General and operates with significant day-to-day independence within that hierarchy.

Notable record

• Oversees roughly 1,000 prosecutors handling tens of thousands of criminal cases annually across Israel
• Office has handled the ongoing prosecutions of the October 7 Hamas terrorists captured during and after the massacre, building meticulous evidentiary records of the atrocities for both Israeli and international purposes
• Has been responsible for prosecutorial decisions on a range of public-corruption and security cases
• Term scheduled to end 2027

Today

Continues in office leading day-to-day prosecution policy across the country.

Background

Born in Jerusalem in 1957 to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbanit Margalit, David Yosef studied at the family's beit midrash and at Yeshivat Hazon Ovadia, was ordained as a dayan (religious court judge), and built a distinguished career as a rabbi, posek (halachic decisor), and author of the multi-volume halachic work 'Halacha Berura.' He has served as rabbi of the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem for decades and as a member of the Shas Council of Torah Sages. He was elected Sephardi Chief Rabbi in September 2024 by the 150-member electoral assembly and took office for a ten-year term in October 2024.

Notable record

• Author of 'Halacha Berura,' a 19-volume work organizing Sephardi halachic rulings around the Shulchan Aruch, a major contribution to contemporary Sephardi pesika
• President of the Rabbinical Court of Appeals (Beit HaDin HaRabbani HaGadol), the highest religious court for Jewish personal-status matters in Israel
• Continues his father Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's project of restoring authoritative Sephardi halachic tradition (the 'Maran' tradition of Rabbi Yosef Karo) as the central halachic voice of Sephardi Jewry in the State of Israel
• Plays a central role in conversion, marriage, and divorce policy across the Israeli rabbinical court system

Today

Serving the first years of his ten-year term as Chief Rabbi and President of the Rabbinical Court of Appeals.

Background

Born in Israel in 1957, Bar studied at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav under the leading Religious Zionist authorities of his generation, received rabbinical ordination, and served for decades as Chief Rabbi of Netanya, building a reputation as a serious posek, an accessible community rabbi, and a quiet bridge-builder across the streams of religious life in Israel. He was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in September 2024 for a ten-year term.

Notable record

• Decades of municipal rabbinical service in Netanya, including extensive work on conversion and personal-status questions
• Serves alongside the Sephardi Chief Rabbi on the council that oversees the national rabbinical-court system and the Chief Rabbinate's many functions (kashrut certification, marriage registration, conversion, supervision of religious councils)
• Brings the Religious Zionist tradition of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, the spiritual center of the movement to redeem and settle the Land of Israel, into the highest office of the State's official rabbinate

Today

Serving the early years of his ten-year term as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi.

Background

The Rabbinical Courts trace their lineage to the millet system of the Ottoman period and were formally reorganized under British Mandate Order in 1922, then re-established by the State of Israel in 1953. They have exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel and concurrent jurisdiction (by mutual consent) over related matters such as alimony, child support, and division of property between Jewish spouses. Dayanim (religious-court judges) are appointed by a 10-member Committee for the Appointment of Dayanim chaired by the Justice Minister and including the two Chief Rabbis, two sitting dayanim, two ministers, two MKs, and two rabbis chosen by the Chief Rabbinate.

Notable record

• Twelve regional Rabbinical Courts plus the Rabbinical Court of Appeals (Beit HaDin HaRabbani HaGadol) in Jerusalem
• Approximately 90 sitting dayanim across the system
• Exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel, the principle that the founding of a Jewish family in the Jewish state happens within the framework of Jewish law
• Israeli Supreme Court reviews rabbinical-court decisions only on narrow administrative and jurisdictional grounds, preserving the religious courts' substantive halachic authority
• Parallel state-recognized religious court systems exist for Muslim (Sharia), Christian (ecclesiastical), and Druze communities, each with jurisdiction over personal-status matters within their community

Today

The rabbinical-court system continues its daily work across Israel, processing thousands of divorces, marriage registrations, and personal-status determinations each year, while halachic authorities within the system continue developing solutions for difficult cases such as agunot (chained women) and refining the conversion process within the framework of halacha. Reform efforts within the system have focused on expanding the use of halachic mechanisms (such as well-drafted prenuptial agreements and assertive use of the courts' coercive powers) to resolve agunot cases.