Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Disqualify Ex-Shin Bet Chief Yoram Cohen from Knesset Run

Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a petition seeking to disqualify former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen from running for the Knesset, the country's parliament. The petition was filed by activists from the 'Justice for Amiram Headquarters' who argued that Cohen should be barred from candidacy due to the Shin Bet's conduct during his tenure concerning the Duma case investigations.

A panel of justices, led by Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and including Justices Ofer Grosskopf and Khaled Kabub, dismissed the petition without a hearing. The petitioners were ordered to pay 3,000 shekels in court costs.

The activists, represented by attorney Rachavia Pilz, had raised concerns about Cohen's alleged involvement in the interrogations of a minor and Amiram Ben-Oli'el as part of the Duma case. They claimed that serious flaws and severe actions occurred during these interrogations, arguing that Cohen's conduct violated the principles of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

The appeal to the Supreme Court followed the rejection of a similar request by the Central Elections Committee chairman, Judge Noam Sohlberg, who had dismissed the petition without a hearing.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, the activists stated that a person who "sanctioned severe harm to human rights and the most blatant trampling of suspects' rights in an anti-democratic move, and provided backing for extracting confessions by force, is not fit to serve in the Knesset." They added that no court decision would cleanse the "moral and ethical stain" on Cohen, asserting that someone under whom such actions occurred is unfit to be a public figure in Israel or serve in the Knesset.