Hundreds protest outside home of Supreme Court chief

Some 200 people protested Saturday outside the home of Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor against a ruling by the court that has hampered attempts by the government to deport illegal African immigrants.

The protesters, many from south Tel Aviv, charge that the migrants have overrun their neighborhood. They held signs reading “human rights for citizens too” and “the South Tel Aviv Liberation Front.”

Naor is the president of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice, and has come under fire in recent days after ruling that the government could continue its controversial practice of deporting undocumented migrants to an unnamed third country, but barred the state from incarcerating them indefinitely.

The ruling also said that the migrants, who claim protections due refugees from conflict, could no be deported against their wills, effectively hobbling the deportation program.

This is the second protest outside Naor’s home and follows a trend set by long-running demonstrations outside the home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, calling on him to press charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in two corruption cases.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked slammed the ruling and accused the High Court of degrading Israel’s Jewish character. Shaked, from the hard-line Jewish Home party, immediately announced plans to introduce legislation allowing Israel to deport migrants even without their consent.

Also this week, police launched a brief criminal investigation after a gold statue of  Naor mysteriously appeared outside the courthouse in Jerusalem.

The statue, bedecked in gold spray, put on a decorative pedestal and ringed by velvet ropes on a street corner near the court in the capital, was erected as a political protest by right-wing groups.

In a statement, police said investigators were called to the court by security guards who discovered the near life-size statue Thursday morning after it had apparently been put up overnight.

Initially police said law enforcement was treating the incident as a criminal offense, but later conceded that no crime had been committed. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said on Twitter he did not know if there was justification for an investigation.

A number of suspects believed to have erected the statue were briefly detained for questioning before being released.

A member of Derech Chaim, which advocates Jewish religious law in Israel, told Channel 10 that the statue was erected in protest of the court becoming “the ruler of the state.”

The statue was removed by authorities on Thursday morning.

In December, a gold statue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly appeared in downtown Tel Aviv before it was toppled by passersby.

That statue was erected by sculptor Itay Zalait who said he sought to “test the boundaries of free speech in Israel in 2016.”