‘Intimidation’: Opposition slams Likud MK, others for disrupting High Court hearing on Sde Teiman leak probe

Members of the anti-Netanyahu bloc slam Likud MK Tally Gotliv and others who disrupted this morning’s High Court hearing over the Sde Teiman leak investigation, arguing that their behavior is an effort to undermine the rule of law driven by senior coalition officials’ incitement.

“The outburst by MK Gotliv” and other attendees is “unbearable and unforgivable” and would not have happened in the United States or “any democratic country that respects itself,” says Opposition Leader Yair Lapid. “Under normal circumstances, the justice minister and the Knesset speaker would have been the first to take steps to uphold the dignity of the court, but both are leading the toxic incitement against the court that has brought us to this low point.”

The court paused this morning’s hearing amid incessant shouting. As the room was emptied, a reservist soldier charged with severely abusing a Gazan detainee in the military facility shouted at the judges: “You trash, you kapo.”

This outburst was “a deliberate and planned move aimed at intimidating the judges and the prosecution, while simultaneously further eroding public trust in the judicial process” on the part of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, tweets The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv.

“The last thing they care about is uncovering the truth. Removing the attorney general and destroying the independence of the judicial system is the only thing that matters to them,” he adds, calling on the justices to close the court to the public and instead only broadcast the remainder of the hearings related to the Sde Teiman affair.

Those who disrupted the court were “not expressing protest” but rather “trying to intimidate the rule of law,” declares Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz. “They need to be arrested and sit behind bars. Turning the court into a stage for political debate is extremely dangerous for Israeli democracy.”

In response, Likud MK Osher Shekalim accuses Gantz of hypocrisy, stating that he didn’t call for the arrest of a demonstrator at an anti-government protest earlier this year who called him a traitor.

“It’s easy for you to go against ‘ordinary people,’ but you’re afraid of those who protested against you,” writes Shekalim.

Other members of the coalition criticize the court, with Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan tweeting that opposition to the court is not driven by “the incitement of ‘Bibi supporters'” but rather by “millions of citizens in Israel” outraged “at vile corruption wrapped in the robes of justice.”

Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, tweets a clip of Court President Justice Isaac Amit reprimanding those present in the courtroom for applauding a government representative.

“The public applauded the representative of the justice minister. In response, just a few minutes later, Yitzhak Amit removed the public from the room. There is nothing more symbolic than this. The court, isolated in its ivory tower, is incapable of dealing with the public but demands unlimited authority to decide on every issue concerning the public,” he writes.