Israel Supreme Court candidate revealed to be illegal settler on Occupied Palestine Territory

A candidate for Israel’s Supreme Court is revealed to be an illegal settler occupying Palestinian Territory in the West Bank, amid ongoing attempts by the Israeli far-right to solidify domination over the country’s judiciary.

According to media reports, Aviad Bakshi – who leads the legal department at the extremist Kohelet Policy Forum, and who is a key candidate to be appointed as a Justice at the Israeli Supreme Court – is a settler living in a house in the settlement named ‘Ofra’ in the Occupied West Bank.

His residence there, which is both illegal under international law and reportedly a violation of Israeli law itself, brings further controversy to Bakshi’s candidacy for the judiciary spot, which has already long been criticised due to his openly far-right affiliations.

Serving as a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University’s law school, the Justice candidate is also one of the authors of the Israeli government’s ‘judicial reform’ plan aimed at weakening the country’s judiciary and strengthening the dominance of the government over Israeli legislation.

That plan has been led by Israel’s Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, who himself has advocated for Bakshi’s appointment to the Supreme Court in an attempt to seemingly further shift the balance of the institution in favour of the far-right Likud-led government.

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