Israel's High Court Upholds Delay of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Memorial Event
In the summer of 2026, a public and media storm erupted in Israel over claims that the state memorial day for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef had been "canceled" by the legal system. However, an objective analysis reveals that the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, did not seek to cancel the memorial day but rather to postpone the government commemoration events until after the 26th Knesset elections. This decision was based on a conflict with the Election Law concerning propaganda.
The core of the dispute in 2026 lay in the clash between the law establishing a state memorial day for Rabbi Yosef, enacted in early 2025, and the Election Law (Election Propaganda), 1959. The memorial law designated Rabbi Yosef's death anniversary, on the 3rd of Cheshvan, as a permanent state day, including private remembrance, a Knesset discussion, educational activities in state institutions, and a government-sponsored academic conference. The 2026 conference was allocated approximately 10 million shekels.
The conflict arose because the 3rd of Cheshvan in 2026 fell on October 14th, just 13 days before the scheduled Knesset elections on October 27th. This proximity triggered Section 2a of the Election Law, which prohibits the use of public funds and resources for election propaganda within 90 days of an election.
While many media outlets reported the Attorney General's directive as a "cancellation," closer examination of original sources, including a report from ynet on August 27, 2026, showed that the directive was to postpone funded events until after the elections, not cancel them. The Attorney General clarified that the memorial law allowed the academic conference to be held "on a date close to" the anniversary. The directive was to move the event by only two weeks to avoid the active campaign period. The term "cancel" originated from response statements by the Shas party, which characterized the legal request as "an audacious demand to cancel the prayer and memorial rally" and vowed to fight the decision.
This situation highlights a classic narrative gap, where a political stance from one party in a dispute was amplified in headlines, becoming perceived as factual, while the official directive concerned only a timing adjustment. The legal basis for the Attorney General's decision is rooted in long-standing guidelines regarding election law, aimed at ensuring equal opportunities, transparency, and preventing the misuse of state power. Key considerations included Rabbi Yosef's symbolic importance to the Shas party's campaign, the appearance of a politically funded rally using public money just before elections, and the overall circumstances of the event.
Significantly, Rabbi Yosef's daughters, Adina Bar-Shalom and Rivka Chikotai, publicly supported the Attorney General's decision, criticizing Shas party leader Aryeh Deri and their brother, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, for their public attacks. They emphasized that the legal directive did not forbid remembrance but rather the funding of a state event that, due to its timing, resembled a political campaign rally.
Initially, government organizers resisted the postponement, even moving the conference earlier and spreading it over three days. However, Shas filed an urgent petition to the Supreme Court. On September 16, 2026, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition, upholding the Attorney General's professional judgment. Following this ruling, the Ministry of Religious Services officially canceled the main government conference planned for that year, as it could not proceed under the existing election year legal constraints.
