Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich on Tuesday refused to back down on the harsh remarks he made about Supreme Court justice Yitzchak Amit on Monday.

During a party meeting, Smotrich called Amit “a violent, trampling megalomaniac who is stealing Israeli democracy. The result will be that we will trample him—there will be no choice.”

Smotrich’s words received praise from his fellow coalition members and were slammed by opposition members and judicial officials.

Speaking in an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday morning, Smotrich addressed his critics and doubled down on his criticism of Amit: “You’re delegitimizing me in a disgraceful manner and trying to silence my views. I have no more delicate words to choose from to describe the injustice that Yitzchak Amit and his colleagues are inflicting on Israeli democracy.”

“They’re taking away from us—the elected government—the right to make decisions. The Supreme Court justices violently trample and silence the voice of the majority of the people and repeatedly steal the will and freedom of Am Yisrael.”

Smotrich noted that the interview is being carried out by Army Radio, an apt example of judicial intervention: “We’re talking about Army Radio, which all the IDF chiefs of staff thought should be shut down. The government decided to close it, and the Supreme Court issued an interim injunction.”

Smotrich described another example: “The Civil Service Commissioner was appointed in a certain way for decades, including a ruling by Justice Amit himself. For a year and a half we have been unable to make an appointment because Yitzhak Amit does not allow it. This is not democracy.”

In recent weeks and months, Amit also tried to oust Shin Bet chief David Zini, froze the election process for the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, and ruled that the Chief Rabbanut must allow women to take Rabbinic examinations alongside men.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)