District Judge Issued Ruling on Elad Municipality Petition During Shabbat

Lod District Court Judge Michael Kershen issued a decision during the course of last Saturday, in violation of Shabbat, about an hour and a half before Shabbat ended, regarding an administrative petition related to the Elad Municipality, according to a report today (Thursday) by Tuvia Yagelnik on Galei Tzahal.

The decision was issued as part of a petition filed by city council member Yitzhak Halla against the municipality. The petition concerns allegations of poor administrative conduct and a lack of transparency in the local authority’s management, but people familiar with the matter stressed that this was a clearly administrative issue and certainly not something urgent or defined as a matter of life and death requiring a ruling during Shabbat.

At this stage, the Elad Municipality has chosen not to file an official complaint against Judge Kershen over the incident, despite the serious Shabbat violation. The judicial authority responded: “This was a technical decision in the case, and it is possible that, due to lack of attention, the decision was issued shortly before Shabbat ended.”

The incident comes shortly after the ombudsman for complaints against judges recently issued sharp criticism of Supreme Court justices, following a similar case in which a judicial decision was handed down during Shabbat.