Rights Group Asks High Court to Halt $130 Million Transfer to Police, Shin Bet
Translated & summarized from Calcalist by baba
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has petitioned the High Court to halt the transfer of NIS 500 million from an Arab community development program to the police and Shin Bet. The government's decision, made shortly before elections, also assigns the Shin Bet to handle civilian crime. Human rights groups argue this is an improper use of funds and an overreach of the Shin Bet's authority, despite government claims of broad discretion.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Association for Civil Rights petitions High Court to block NIS 500 million transfer to police and Shin Bet.
- The funds are being diverted from a development program for the Arab community.
- The decision tasks the Shin Bet security agency with handling civilian crime.
- Human rights groups argue the transfer and tasking are improper and potentially illegal.
- Government attorneys cite broad discretion and deny the Shin Bet is exceeding its mandate.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has filed an urgent petition with the High Court of Justice (Bagatz) seeking an interim order to block the transfer of NIS 500 million (approximately $130 million) from a social and economic development program for the Arab community to the police and the Shin Bet security agency. The state had announced on October 26, just before the elections, that budget transfer requests had been forwarded to the Knesset Finance Committee for approval.
The petition also seeks to prevent the implementation of a government decision to task the Shin Bet with handling civilian crime. The association argues that without an interim order, the decision could become irreversible, causing irreparable harm to the programs and rights the petition aims to protect. Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and May Golan had previously attempted to cut the program's budget, managing to divert only about NIS 200 million by July.
On July 15, the government decided to transfer NIS 497 million from the program to the police and Shin Bet, assigning the latter the task of combating crime in the Arab community, despite it being civilian crime. This decision prompted several human rights organizations and the National Committee of Heads of Arab Municipalities to petition the High Court on July 30, demanding the cancellation of the government's decision and a ruling that the Shin Bet is not authorized to handle civilian crime.
In response, state attorneys acknowledged that the government's decision was formulated on a tight timeline, making it difficult to gather input from all relevant ministries, despite an accompanying legal opinion. This legal opinion itself noted significant legal difficulties in approving the decision at that time due to the lack of necessary professional and legal groundwork. The Legal Advisor to the Government also stated that the proposed plan did not justify funding law enforcement, a basic state responsibility, by reducing budgets from the five-year plan.
Despite these concerns, the state attorneys argued that the petition should be dismissed, citing the government's broad discretion in setting budgetary priorities and asserting that the decision does not exceed the Shin Bet's mandate. The Association for Civil Rights highlighted that in June 2026, a deputy director-general of the Prime Minister's Office had determined that no funds should be diverted from the five-year plan. However, two weeks later, following the Prime Minister's directive, the government began advancing the cut without new factual basis, despite warnings from professionals and legal counsel about a flawed decision-making process and potential harm to existing programs.