Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court on Monday that racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “wrongfully and illegally intervened in police work” related to the right to protest, during the war in Gaza. As minister in charge of police, Ben Gvir can set policy, but is not permitted to instruct police on specific enforcement.
Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman addressing the crowd at the anti-war protest held in Tel-Aviv, Saturday evening, November 18, 2023 (Photo: Zo Haderech)
In November, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) petitioned the High Court to prevent the minister from instructing the police on how to react to protests, after he spoke out against the rally organized by Hadash in Tel-Aviv calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and made clear his belief that it should not be allowed to take place.
This followed numerous instances throughout the protests against the government’s judicial overhaul legislation efforts in which Ben Gvir was accused of closely involving himself with policing of the demonstrations, pressuring police to take a far tougher hand with demonstrators seen to be “disrupting public order.” Baharav-Miara says a review of the case at hand indicates Ben Gvir “crossed a line” into “forbidden intervention” in police discretion, and particularly criticizes such intervention “in the sensitive issue of demonstrations and the right to protest.”
On November 18, hundreds of Jews and Arabs gathered in Tel Aviv’s Charles Clore Park for a demonstration led by Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel. The protest called for the immediate ceasefire and an end to the war. Protesters say they support an “all-for-all” hostage deal where all Israeli hostages are brought back in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The police agree to allow the Hadash demonstration after ACRI petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding it order the police to issue a permit for the rally. The Tel Aviv Police Department initially refused to authorize the event, on the grounds it could lead “to civil disturbances, may harm the feelings of evacuees from southern Israel currently residing in Tel Aviv, and that the police lacked the manpower to secure the rally.” During the court hearing and for first time since October 7, police agree to allow the demonstration to go ahead, but at a different location than originally planned and with a limit on the number of participants to five hundred.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=31371
