In this issue of Adalah’s News, we highlight important recent decisions issued by the Israeli Supreme Court (SCT or Court) in four major petitions filed by Adalah.
Following the May 2021 violent events in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),
the SCT delivered its decision in the high-profile Jewish Nation-State Basic Law (JNSL) case on 8 July 2021. While the SCT had not been expected to strike down this Basic Law, the justices issued their declarative judgment without holding a fair hearing, avoided addressing all major arguments presented by the petitioners and disregarded all violations amounting to absolute prohibitions under international law. The Court decided the case in a 10-to-1 judgment, with Justice Karra, the only Palestinian justice on the Court, dissenting. The SCT held only one hearing in the case, nearly two and a half years after 15 petitions were filed against the Basic Law, including Adalah’s petition submitted on behalf of the Palestinian Arab leadership in Israel. Despite Adalah’s request for an order to show cause, the SCT never issued one, and thus, the Court never required the state to respond to international law violations raised by Adalah.
The JNSL decision served to further the debate about Israel’s apartheid characteristics, including related aspects of its laws, policies and practices of domination and control over Palestinians in the OPT and in Israel. The law has grave implications for the legal status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinians living in Jerusalem and in the wider West Bank and in Gaza, as well as Syrians residing in the Golan Heights. The ruling enshrines Jewish supremacy, blatant violations of Palestinian rights, including the right of self-determination and racial segregation, and entrenches these breaches as foundational principles of the state.
In response to the May 2021 events, the
UN Human Rights Council (HRC) voted to establish an ongoing commission of inquiry (COI) with a mandate to assess grave human rights violations in Israel and the OPT, including Jerusalem. This HRC resolution is the first ever to initiate an investigation that probes Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as root causes of systemic racial discrimination. The JNSL directly expresses these core, root causes and the COI mandate appears to encompass an examination of the law and its impacts.
In the coming months, Adalah will publish analyses of the SCT’s decision and the law’s implications on the day-to-day reality of the JNSL on the lives of Palestinians.
