High Court Rejects Petition to Toughen Knesset Ethics Sanctions

Israel’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday rejected a petition by the Hiddush organization against the Knesset Ethics Committee, which had sought to force tougher action over lawmakers’ absences from parliamentary work, including harsher sanctions against Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.

In their ruling, Chief Justice Isaac Amit, Justice David Mintz and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez said the ethics committee has broad discretion in these matters and that there is no basis for judicial intervention. They stressed that these are internal Knesset affairs and that judicial review in this area is especially limited.

The justices said the extent of Deri’s absences, as presented to them, does raise concern, but the committee had considered the full set of circumstances, including his membership in the security cabinet and other public roles. On that basis, they found no justification to interfere with the committee’s decision to stop at a severe reprimand and loss of salary.

Following the ruling, Ethics Committee chairman MK Eliyahu Revivo said it was right that the court upheld separation of powers and made clear that setting and enforcing ethical standards is primarily the responsibility of the Knesset and its ethics committee. He added that public trust requires every lawmaker to commit fully to Knesset work and thanked the committee’s members, professional staff and Knesset legal adviser Adv. Shgith Afik for their work.