A study initiated by the NGO Regavim shows clear bias in the Israeli Supreme Court against Jews in Judea and Samaria.
The report was a followup of a 2010 report that showed similar discrimination by the Supreme Court against petitions emerging from the Right. The 2014 report showed some improvement, but nothing significant.
The study reviewed case files from 2005 to 2013 that were submitted by both sides of the political debate regarding illegal construction in Judea and Samaria- from the Left (Peace Now, Yesh Din, B’Tzelem, Arabs), against illegal Jewish constuction, and from the Right (Regavim), against illegal Arab construction.
The study examined 54 cases. 29 cases were filed by Leftwing and Arab groups, and 25 cases were filed by Rightwing groups.
The study specifically examined how the court dealt with each case, in terms of procedure and time.
The study compared the amount of time the court took to respond, how long the court left the case open, how many injunctions were issued, and how many times the Chief Justice decided to preside over the case from each side.
| Points of Comparison |
Leftwing Petitions against illegal Settler construction |
Rightwing Petitions against illegal Arab construction |
|
| Time to initial response |
23 Days |
52 Days |
|
| Intermediate injunctions |
87% |
17% |
|
| Conditional injunctions |
46% |
4% |
|
| Participation of Chief Justice |
62% |
32% |
|
| Time until first court hearing |
250 Days |
369 Days |
|
| Number of discussions |
2.93 |
1.4 |
|
| Active lifetime of petition |
36 months |
21 months |
The official overview can be found here.
The full report (in Hebrew) can be found here.
The study unfortunately uncovered clear and undeniable political discrimination by the Israeli Supreme Court, indicating the court is unquestionably political inclined to favor Leftwing petitions, giving them preferential treatment.
Regavim called on the court to do “Cheshbon Nefesh” (soul searching), regarding their exposed bias.
But will soul searching be enough?