Israeli Legal System Enters Pre-Election Silence Amidst Major Unresolved Cases

With less than two weeks until the election, Israel's legal system has fallen into an unusual quiet. The Supreme Court is withholding significant decisions on major pending cases, the Attorney General has become largely inactive, and the State Prosecutor's Office is avoiding rulings on large-scale investigations. This period of inaction is attributed to a reluctance by legal bodies to make waves before the election.

Several key decisions are on hold, including potential indictments for Tzachi Braverman, former Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, in a stenographer alteration case; a decision regarding former Foreign Minister Eli Cohen (now Energy Minister) in a diplomatic passport affair; and investigations involving ministers Miri Regev and May Golan in separate corruption cases.

In a notable development, the State Prosecutor's Office was reportedly poised to inform the Supreme Court of a renewed criminal investigation into the Meron disaster, which claimed 45 lives. However, intervention by the Israel Police's legal advisor, Itai Naon, led to a month-long delay in this announcement. Naon is considered close to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who was the Public Security Minister at the time of the disaster, suggesting the delay might serve Ohana's interests.

The Supreme Court has also postponed rulings on the eligibility of the Ra'am and Joint List parties, and MK Ofer Cassif, to run in the elections. Decisions on a judicial overhaul law affecting the Judicial Appointments Committee, a petition for the immediate selection of a State Comptroller, and legislation concerning the Police Internal Investigations Department, the Attorney General, and communications are also pending.

This pre-election legal silence is seen as an ironic end to a term marked by intense political engagement with the judiciary, beginning with Justice Minister Yariv Levin's January 2023 speech that initiated the judicial overhaul. While the overhaul partially failed, its public image is poor, leading the coalition to avoid the issue during the election campaign. The opposition, however, has been criticized for not actively reminding the public of the overhaul's implications.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin reiterated his stance that he would pursue the judicial reforms in the same manner and at the same pace if he could return to 2023, suggesting that completing them could have improved the country's situation. He has also repeatedly called for the dismissal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial, a statement considered highly inappropriate for a Justice Minister who holds significant authority over the legal system.

Experts anticipate that once the elections conclude, a flood of legal decisions and developments will emerge, potentially overshadowing the election results themselves. The article suggests that the current pause is driven by fear, with the expectation that "everything will explode after the elections."