Justice Minister Yariv Levin is determined to cut Israel’s High Court down to size 

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.     New Israeli justice minister Yariv Levin’s one-man-show kicked off last Wednesday night at eight p.m. At his dramatic press conference, carefully timed to coincide with evening news shows, Levin announced the launch of a comprehensive overhaul of Israel’s legal system.

Incoming prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not known for passing by an opportunity to claim credit, was notably absent from the scene.

With all the flair of a bank clerk and the measured tone of a political science professor, Levin is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, his stodgy demeanor belying one of the sharpest minds in Israeli politics. Netanyahu’s staunchest loyalist and the architect of the change government’s collapse only one year into its term, Levin placed second (only to Netanyahu) in last summer’s Likud primaries after promising a judicial revolution to break the Israeli left’s stranglehold on the court system.

Despite once serving as deputy chairman of the Israeli Bar Association, Levin has been a fierce critic of Israeli courts for decades. He opened his remarks with a twist on one of Menachem Begin’s most memorable sayings: “Yesh shoftim b’Yerushalayim — there are judges in Jerusalem,” Levin echoed the iconic Likud leader, before adding in the same breath, “but there’s a legislature as well.”