Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that the Second Authority Council, led by Mordechai Mordechai, will continue operating even after six members resigned together. The resignations came after pressure allegedly applied by Communications Minister Shlomo Karai and his associates.
The panel, President Yitzhak Amit, Alex Stein and Ruth Ronen, said the unusual circumstances justified excluding the resigning members from the count of the “outgoing” council, so as not to allow an intentional obstruction and paralysis of the body during the interim order period and until a ruling is issued on the petitions.
The decision followed an extended hearing held on Tuesday on five petitions filed against the appointment of a new council headed by Dr. Yifat Ben Haya Segal. As part of that hearing, the justices had demanded affidavits from the resigning members regarding Karai’s role in their decision. The court said their statements raised “grave concern” that the resignations were meant to thwart earlier court orders and obstruct the court’s ability to examine the claims before it.
Karai sharply rejected the ruling, saying, “The High Court is not above the law,” and that “democracy will prevail over the dictators in robes.” He argued that the law requires at least two-thirds of the 15 council members, meaning 10 members, for the council to function, and claimed the court had wrongly decided that the seven remaining members were enough. He said the ruling has no legal force and warned that the court may next try to restore the “outgoing” Bennett-Lapid-Abbas government. Karai added, “We will teach them in the next election what democracy is. The people will be sovereign, despite them.”
