Monday's High Court discussion
Photo: Noam Moskowitz
Cheshin. 'Stopped playing by the rules'
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Legalists slam haredi parents' defiance
Senior legal sources amazed by violation of High Court ruling against discrimination between Ashkenazi, Sephardic students in Emmanuel school. 'Those who refuse to obey the orders of the judicial system should be punished,' one of them says
The High Court of Justice's decision
to send ultra-Orthodox parents to jail over their refusal to obey a court ruling was courageous, senior legal sources told Ynet on Tuesday night. "Finally, the judges are saying that a High Court ruling cannot be violated and disregarded and that those who do so will be punished severely," one of them said.
The remarks were made several hours after Supreme Court judges announced their unusual decision, in light of the fact that the parents at the Beit Yaakov school in Emmanuel have refused to obey the ruling against the illegal discrimination between Ashkenazi and Sephardic students in the educational institution.
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Temperamental day in High Court (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
The judges wrote in their decision that the parents had violated the ruling, which clarified that the discrimination stemmed from an ethnical rather than religious approach. The judges added that the ruling was not subject to the approval of any external element, replying to the parents' claims that their rabbis must approve the ruling before they could act on it.
The legal sources added that they could not remember such a repeated "blatant and scathing violation" of a High Court ruling in the history of the State of Israel.
"This is a democratic state, and the judicial system is one of its symbols," one of the sources said. "Those who violate the orders and ruling of the judicial system should be punished, especially when this is done in such a defying, open and blatant way."
'Violation end of democracy'
Retired Deputy Supreme Court President Mishael Cheshin was amazed by the parents' declarations in light of the High Court ruling.
"The moment there is a High Court order and they refuse to fulfill it repeatedly, it's the end of democracy," Cheshin warned in a conversation with Ynet. "For the first time, people are saying – openly and blatantly, that they will not obey a High Court order.
"The High Court is acting in the framework of its authority and is the State's messenger, and the parents are basically striking the State. What can the High Court do? The precedent here is in the blatant and scathing violation of State orders. Those parents have stopped playing by the rules, not the court. What can I say, every man does that which was right in his own eyes," he added.
The parents in Emmanuel have no plans to obey the High Court ruling. A senior source in the Slonim Hasidic dynasty estimated that "the greatest sages of Israel" will accompany the 50 pairs of parents to prison and that "this is the start of a great war on the Jewish character."
Associates of Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush said they were looking for a venue to reenact the "protest of half a million people" which was held against the High Court in the past, and are looking into dates, transportation and understandings between the different Hasidic dynasties. At this stage, it appears the demonstration will be held at the entrance to Jerusalem.
