Judiciary slams Levin for claiming High Court tightened IDF open-fire rules at Gaza border

A statement put out in the name of “the judiciary” describes as “baseless” and “unfounded” the claims made by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and others that High Court of Justice decisions led to a tightening of the IDF’s open-fire regulations at the Gaza border.

The press release is issued by the spokesperson’s division of the Judicial Authority, which is responsible for communications for the High Court of Justice, the lower courts, and the Israel Court’s Administration, but is not signed by any official other than the spokesperson.

The statement alludes to comments made by Levin in an interview on November 9 when asked about continuing with his judicial overhaul agenda. He said, “There is a need to change the approach and to change the perspective of the justice system, including in connection with the IDF. So that someone who is approaching the border fence, it’s unthinkable that soldiers should be scared to shoot at him. When there is a building providing cover for terrorists to carry out an attack, it can’t be that it is impossible to destroy it.”

Similar claims were also made recently by Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on his Telegram channel.

The judiciary points out in its statement that in response to a petition calling for stricter IDF open-fire regulations in 2018 during mass Palestinian riots on the Israel-Gaza border, the High Court rejected the petition saying it had very little authority to intervene.

The judiciary’s statement also rejects unsubstantiated allegations that the High Court held secret meetings on the issue of open-fire regulations outside of the court’s halls.

“The judges of the High Court of Justice deliberate on petitions filed to the court in the court alone, and do not hold meetings with this or that party on matters relating to petitions in any other framework, neither before nor after a ruling is issued,” read the judiciary’s statement.