(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Over 100 petitions were filed with the High Court of Justice against illegal construction throughout areas of Yehuda and Shomron. However, a report released on Tuesday morning, 13 Tammuz, following the destruction of the Netiv HaAvot neighborhood of Yishuv Elazar, reveals discrimination by Israel’s High Court of Justice against petitions submitted by the right-wing.

The Regavim movement analyzed the procedural procedures for petitions filed over 18 years, and the findings present a consistent and disturbing picture. According to which, over 110 petitions filed on both sides of the political divide between 2005 and 2017 regarding buildings that are not disputed as illegal, claiming that the Civil Administration refrained from enforcing the law against them.

About half of the petitions were submitted by left-wing organizations and were directed against Israeli settlement, and the rest were submitted by Zionist-nationalist organizations against illegal construction in the Arab sector in Yehuda and Shomron.

These are the findings from an analysis of petitions filed over 18 years on both sides of the political divide:

In the petitions on the left, the court gave the state an average of 18.5 days to submit its preliminary response to the arguments raised in the petition. On the other hand, on the right side, the state received an average of 30.5 days. The court ruled against the right-wing, providing the state far more time to respond against right-wing petitions than left-wing petitions.

Although the petitions raise similar legal questions, the number of interim orders given at the petitioners ‘request on the left is seven times higher than the response to the petitioners’ requests on the right.

Of the 61 right-wing petitions for which an interim order was requested, the High Court of Justice granted an order in only one petition (1.7%). Of the 43 left-wing petitions seeking an interim order, 19 were issued, 44%.

Due to the enormous burden placed on the High Court of Justice, the length of the petition’s life reflects perhaps more than anything else the importance the High Court attributes to the petition and the issues discussed in it: The petitions of the left received more than double the number of hearings received by right-wing petitions. Similarly, the percentage of the participation of the presiding judge in the panel discussing the petitions indicates the importance of each petition in the president’s eyes. In the right-wing petitions, the president presided over only 21% of the petitions, while 58% of the left-wing petitions.

Accordingly, left-wing petitions remained open on the High Court’s agenda for an average of 33.3 months, and the right-wing petition lasted only 16.7 months.

The period covered by the report coincides with the tenure of the three retired presidents – Dorit Beinish, Asher Grunis and Miriam Naor – and enables them to analyze the presence of each of them in the panels that deliberated the petitions, and whether the same applies to the various petitioners.

The data indicate the judge’s starting point

The petitions on the two sides usually deal with identical legal issues, and therefore the report focused on examining the procedural elements of the proceeding, which take place before the issues that arise in it are examined, because these reflect the point of departure and the basic position from which the judges approach the issue.

“The findings of the report constitute a real warning to the justice system,” say the Regavim movement. Without any unnecessary words, they censure the Supreme Court and raise the question of whether it acts impartially with all those who enter its gates. This unreasonable conduct causes unimaginable damage to the rule of law and to the central place of the judicial institution in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, in society and in a democratic state.”

“These findings constitute a warning sign calling on the High Court justices to take a soul-searching and examine another house regarding their conduct, and demand that the elected officials in the legislative branch act to bring about a real balance in the courtrooms, to rehabilitate the objective and clean image of the High Court of Justice and the tzibur’s trust in the court “.

In response to the report, the Ichud Leumi party stated, “The masks have been removed.

“The findings of the report constitute a real warning to the justice system,” say the Regavim movement. Without any unnecessary words, they censure the Supreme Court and raise the question of whether it acts impartially with all those who enter its gates. This unreasonable conduct causes unimaginable damage to the rule of law and to the central place of the judicial institution in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, in society and in a democratic state.”

“These findings constitute a warning sign calling on the High Court justices to take a soul-searching and examine another house regarding their conduct, and demand that the elected officials in the legislative branch act to bring about a real balance in the courtrooms, to rehabilitate the objective and clean image of the High Court of Justice and the tzibur’s trust in the court”.

Ichud Leumi responded, “The judicial authority, which is supposed to be an objective body, is revealed time after time as a body with an extreme left-wing agenda that tramples on the rights of residents of Yehuda and Shomron and undermines the Jewish identity of the state. We call on the state comptroller to do a thorough investigation in the High Court of Justice and put an end to this despicable phenomenon.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)