Former AG Meni Mazuz, Anat Baron named as new Supreme Court justices
AG who led major graft investigations against Olmert, Hirschson and Hangebi appointed to Supreme Court together with Tel Aviv District court judge.
The Judicial Committee has selected Menachem (Meni) Mazuz – Israel's former attorney general famous for a his investigation into former prime minister Ehud Olmert - and Tel Aviv District Court Judge Anat Baron to join Israel's Supreme Court as justices Sunday.
The two will replace Chief Justice Asher Grunis, who will retire in January, and Justice Edna Arbel, who recent retired.
Anat Baron / Meni Mazuz (Photo: Court / Mott Kimchi)
The Judicial Nomination Committee convened Sunday together with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Chief Justice Grunis, Justice Ester Hayut and former attorney general Elyakim Rubenstein. The legislative branch was represented by Communication Minister Gilad Erdan, Opposition Chairman Isaac Herzog and Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen. They were joined by representatives of the Israeli Bar Association, Rahal Ben Ari and Haled Zoabi.
Mazuz rose to prominence as a prosecutor in the State's Prosecutor Office and served a number of key roles before being appointed Attorney General in 2004.
His tenure was characterized by a string of high-profile graft investigations against leading politicians, including then prime ministers Ehud Olmert, then finance minister Avraham Hirschson and then chair of the Foreign Affair and Defense Committee MK Tzachi Hangebi.
Mazuz, who will now be the court's sole Sephardic justice, was born in Tunisia, and moved with his family to Israel in 1995. He grew up in the periphery town of Netivot, not far from Gaza in Israel northern Negev region. His father was a well respected rabbi, but Mazuz, who had studied in a seminary, abandoned the tradition before enlisting into the IDF. He studied law at the Hebrew University and clerked for two Supreme Court justices.
After serving as head of high court petitions in the prosecutor's office, during the 90s he served as head of the legal departments for a number of government ministers and was even a member of Israeli negotiations team in talks with the Palestinians and the Jordanians.
In the mid-90s he served as deputy to the attorney general, serving under Michael Ben Yair and then Elyakim Rubenstein, during which time he was instrumental in reformulating a number of key administrative directives which culminated in the Law For the Court of Administrative Issues.
Mazuz is married to Elinaar Mazuz, who served as the Police's deputy attorney general until a number of years ago. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Jerusalem's Beit HaKerem neighborhood.
From district to supreme court
Anat Baron, 61, was born in Israel and raised in Tel Aviv, where she studied law after completing her army service. She interned and clerked for the Defense Ministry's legal department. After 12 years of private law practice, in 1991, she was appointed to be a judge in Tel Aviv Magistrate Court. In 2002, she was promoted to the city's district court.
Her son, Ron, was killed in the deadly suicide attack on Mike's Place some 11 years ago.
Because of her close relations with Justice Ester Hayut, the latter recued herself during deliberations.
