Israel will begin broadcasting Supreme Court sessions live starting Tuesday, Ynet learned on Saturday. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Chief Justice Asher Grunis approved the unprecedented move two months after the implementation of a pilot program.
The success of recent tests led to the approval, and Supreme Court Room C was wired up for the recording and live broadcast of sessions on television and online. The plans call for several camera angles to document the proceedings.
- The step was undertaken with the intention of increasing transparency and restoring public trust in the Supreme Court and the justice ministry, in the wake of official and public calls for reforms in the judiciary.
The first session to be broadcast is a court petition submitted by Prof. Moshe Gavish against the Technion more than two years ago, regarding the institute's intention to force him to retire at 68, in accordance with the law.
Justices Eshter Hayut, Elyakim Rubinstein, and Miriam Naor – who will be appointed president of the court in two months – will preside over the inaugural session.
The petition against the Knesset and the Technion was also filed by Prof. Asa Kasher and Prof. Mordechai Segev, who were joined this year by Prof. Ruth Ben-Israel. She has claimed that the basic question was whether it was permitted to force a person working without difficulty to retire at 67, on the grounds that it constituted discrimination against senior citizens.