Israeli Supreme Court Criticizes Movement for Quality Government, Orders Payment Over Repeated Legal Requests

The Israeli Supreme Court sharply criticized the Movement for Quality Government after it filed its ninth petition seeking to remove Prime Minister Netanyahu's advisor, Yonatan Orich, from the Prime Minister's Office. The petition was based on a media report alleging that Orich leaked classified security information to Qatar. The court rejected the petition and ordered the Movement to pay 3,000 shekels in legal costs.

The petition followed a report by Israel Hayom's legal correspondent citing a security source claiming that Netanyahu's advisors leaked classified discussions, including sensitive information about Egypt, to Qatar. Both Orich and another advisor, Sharulik Einhorn, denied the allegations as false. After the report, the Movement again petitioned the Supreme Court for an interim injunction to bar Orich from the Prime Minister's Office.

The court, in a panel including Justices Alex Stein, Noam Sohlberg, and Yechiel Kasher, ruled that a media report alone does not provide sufficient factual basis for such claims before the court. The judges also recalled previous declarations from May that Orich was not exposed to classified material and was barred from sensitive areas in the Prime Minister's Office by Shin Bet directives.

Beyond rejecting the petition, the court condemned the Movement's repeated filings, noting that since March it had submitted eight similar requests, many unsubstantiated. The judges described this pattern as problematic and stated they could no longer ignore the Movement's procedural conduct. Consequently, the court imposed legal costs of 3,000 shekels, split between Orich and state respondents, and warned the Movement against repeating such behavior.

This ruling highlights the court's insistence on substantial evidence in petitions and its intolerance for repetitive, unsupported legal actions that burden the judicial system.