Court allows Israeli people to have their say, reserves judgment for a later day
Copyright: אתר הרשות השופטת [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
The Israeli Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Esther Hayut has rejected moments ago the petition to declare any member of the Knesset who is subject to indictment for bribery ineligible to form a new government.
As the court has pointed out in its decision, while the petition was presented in general language, it was clearly directed against incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu. In rejecting the petition, the justices wrote that while they do not accept the position of Mr. Netanyahu’s attorneys that the Court has no jurisdiction in the matter, they do not feel that the unprecedented political climate in Israel makes it the right time to decide on the merits of the petition.
In their decision, the justices specifically allow Mr. Netanyahu to take part in the upcoming election at the head of the Likud party and advise president Rivlin to choose the person he tasks with forming the government based on existing law.
This decision constitutes a balk by the Court, which has been accused by being overly politicized on the side of the Israeli progressive globalist elites. It appears that the justices and the Chief Justice in particular felt that a decision to disqualify Mr. Netanyahu would be fraught with real peril, while not rendering a decision until election results are known would make it seem as if the court decision not to decide was political rather than grounded in legal considerations.
Finally, the court, by declaring the matter subject to judicial review has left an opening for a similar petition to be brought at a later date should Mr. Netanyahu be indeed tasked with forming the new government. In quoting from Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven ,” the justices seem to be rejecting the petition more as premature rather than as lacking merit.
