Court Rejects Bid to Disqualify Former Shin Bet Chief From Election

Central Elections Committee Chairman, Justice Noam Sohlberg, has dismissed a petition seeking to disqualify former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen from running in the upcoming elections on the "Yashar" party list, led by Gadi Eisenkot. The petition was filed by members of the "Justice for Amiram" campaign, who argued that Cohen should be barred from candidacy due to his alleged role in leading torture in the Duma case. They claimed this action contradicts Israel's identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

The petitioners asserted that Cohen, as head of a security agency, had crossed unprecedented red lines by placing himself and the system above the law and democratic principles. However, Justice Sohlberg ruled that the petition failed to meet a fundamental procedural requirement. He cited Section 63A(A) of the Knesset Elections Law, which mandates that a request to disqualify a candidate must be signed by one-third of the members of the Central Elections Committee. The petitioners did not provide even a single signature from a committee member.

"Legally speaking, there is no such request before me," Sohlberg stated. "The request to determine that Respondent 1 [Yoram Cohen] is prevented from participating in the elections is hereby struck, due to the failure to attach the required signatures."