Israel Parliament Approves Law on Top Court Judges Israeli lawmakers have pushed ahead legislation that critics say undermines the independence of the country's Supreme Court. Parliament, or Knesset, on Monday approved a law changing the rules for who can become Israel's next Supreme Court justice. Critics deplore the law as an attempt by the rightist government to put a particular judge at the court's helm next month. Separately, a parliamentary panel sent the Knesset a bill that would let lawmakers stack the committee that approves Supreme Court judges. No date for the vote has been set. President Shimon Peres, who usually doesn't intervene in political matters, warned that undermining a judiciary's independence "is liable to wreak historic political damage on any country, including Israel."