Israel's High Court issues order against 'personal' Tiberias election law

The High Court of Justice issued an interim order on Thursday against a law that would allow the appointed temporary Tiberias mayor to run in the October municipal elections despite countrywide restrictions on caretaker local authorities immediately running in elections.

A hearing was set by the court for July 30 for arguments on a July 5 petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Movement (TLM), the Israeli Movement, and Tiberias mayoral candidate Shani Illuz. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel also filed a petition on the issue.

Illuz said she welcomed the High Court’s decision, emphasizing the importance of the election’s purity.

“I still have a long way to go until victory, but I believe that the residents of Tiberias know very well that the race for mayor will decide the city’s future forever,” she said.

The Tiberias Law, passed on July 4, would allow appointed caretaker Mayor Boaz Yosef, an ally of Shas chairman Arye Deri, to run for office despite a mandatory cool-down period for interim mayors. Critics argue that the law, which only applies to its namesake city, is a highly personal piece of legislation. TLM said it was not the first time that Likud MK Amit Halevi, who submitted the bill, had proposed personal laws.

Yosef was appointed by the Interior Ministry after former mayor Ron Kobi was forced out of the position in 2020 after failing to pass a municipal budget.

Petitioners cite unfair advantages and potential for abuse of power

The petitioners argued that the current arrangement preventing government appointees from running for office was designed to prevent unfair advantages for unelected officials. Such officials enjoy the benefit of legitimacy they receive by holding the office, which is unearned democratically and a privilege not shared by their rivals. Accordingly, TLM has argued that officials such as Yosef are supposed to be apolitical.

A danger of giving this advantage to Interior Ministry appointees would be the reduced autonomy of local government from the state, and it gives an incentive for politicians to insert associates favorable to them, the petitioners said.

The petitioners also said the Tiberias Law had “changed the rules of the game while playing.”

Knesset Interior Committee member Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu) said if the “corrupt” bill was struck down, she expected coalition members to complain and point to the court’s decision as another reason why they needed a judicial reform.

Another controversy that surrounds the Tiberias mayoral election is that Illuz also claimed she had been offered jobs in exchange for dropping out of the race.