High Court hearing on Sde Teiman probe resumes, court president condemns ‘severity’ of disruptions

As the High Court reconvenes for a hearing on the oversight over the Sde Teiman leak investigation, top justice Yitzhak Amit condemns attendees’ repeated disruptions in the courtroom.

“The severity of these events cannot be overstated. Here we have an infringement on the separation of powers as well as on Israeli democracy,” he says to the court, according to Hebrew outlets.

The courtroom has now been emptied of most attendees by security guards due to yelling and insults hurled at judges from right-wing dissenters.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Amit adds that he is “not aware of any democratic country where such disruptions occur in its Supreme Court.”

The court is hearing petitions against Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s appointment of retired district court judge Yosef Ben-Hamo to oversee an investigation into the leaking of surveillance footage purporting to show abuse of a Gazan prisoner by IDF troops at the Sde Teiman detention facility.

Levin, who has accused Gali Baharav-Miara of having a conflict of interest in the case, sidestepped her to appoint his own official to oversee the probe. The court granted him the authority to do so, as long as his candidate is a senior public official with a job closely connected to criminal investigations or prosecutions.

Judges are unconvinced that Ben-Hamo is sufficiently senior to fill the position of overseeing the investigation, and also cast doubt on his experience with criminal proceedings.

In one of the petitions being heard today, filed by The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the organization claims that Ben-Hamo has not dealt with criminal investigations “in recent years.”

“It is clear that this is another attempt by Levin to find someone who will serve his agenda,” the group alleges, pledging to work “with all available legal tools to thwart this appointment.”