Israeli Court Rejects Far-right MK's Request to Limit Protests Against Him - Israel News - Haaretz.com
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Sunday rejected the request by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman, MK Simcha Rothman, to issue an order characterizing the protest against him as “intimidating harassment,” ruling instead that this is a “legitimate protest that does not upset the balance set forth in rulings.”
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SubscribeRothman, a key figure in the judicial overhaul, sought the order to keep away protesters who planned to disrupt his family vacation over the weekend. An initial request filed by Rothman last week was denied, leading to the second hearing held on Sunday.
Judge Naeel Mohana qualified the ruling, stating that given the presence of minors from Rothman’s family, the protest should be restricted in order to prevent the publication of photographs of the minors, but he did not specify any restrictions. He suggested during the hearing that the parties agree that the activists would refrain from protesting in cases where minors are involved, so that their pictures would not be circulated. The protesters’ attorneys, Gabi Lasky and Gonen Ben Yitzhak, objected, calling this a violation of the right to protest.
Rothman and his wife Hannah filed the order against 400 activists in the WhatsApp group “Finding and harassing Rothman.” They claimed that the activists were planning to disrupt their family vacation, held this past weekend. Judge Mohana limited Rothman’s request at the hearing to only three activities, criticizing its very filing. He said that the protest “seems to meet the definition of permitted political activity.” At a previous hearing, last week, the judge recommended that Rothman bring his suit to the civil courts.
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After the ruling on Sunday, Rothman tweeted that he is glad that “the court saw fit to draw a clear line differentiating the freedoms of protest and demonstration, which are very important, and the harassment, badgering and harming of an elected official’s family.” He added that he intends to file civil suits as the judge recommended. “Even if I believe the line should be drawn elsewhere, the very drawing of it is very important.”
At the hearing, Rothman attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, for not seeking an order on his behalf against intimidating harassment, at her own initiative – as she did in the past for the prosecutor in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cases, Liat Ben-Ari. “My filing the request could be a sign of my trust in the system, but it is a sign of disgrace for the law enforcement system for not doing it themselves,” said Rothman. “The attorney general should be standing here in my place. They declined repeated appeals to do so.”
Judge Mohana clarified that he refrained from issuing a restraining order at last week’s hearing, setting another hearing on the matter, in order to hear all facts. “The right to protest is legitimate and extant, but what bothers me here is that Rothman is on a private vacation with his family which includes minors,” said the judge.
Rothman said that while protest always entails some disturbance of the peace and some invasion of privacy, “in this event there is no desire to protest at an event. Here the goal is persecution, badgering, and humiliation. The goal is to ruin the vacation. The goal of a protest is non-existent.”