Israel Court Rejects Government Bid to Bar Scandal Probe

Israel’s High Court of Justice late Tuesday rejected the government’s motion to dismiss five challenges to its handling of the so-called Shin Bet security scandal and ordered 10 respondents to submit new arguments within 14 days.

The effect of the ruling was to keep alive the hopes of those who want a commission of inquiry appointed to probe the affair, which stems from the 1984 killings of two Palestinian prisoners by their Israeli interrogators.

Last week, the head of the Shin Bet, which is Israel’s equivalent of the FBI, resigned in return for presidential pardons guaranteeing him and three other secret police officers immunity from prosecution in the case.

However, four groups of attorneys and the Citizens Rights Movement here petitioned the High Court to overturn the deal on the grounds that the president had no right to grant the pardons. The petitioners also want the court to order a full judicial inquiry into the incident.

The court ordered the State of Israel, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev, Justice Minister Yitzhak Modai, Police Inspector General David Kraus, Attorney General Yosef Harish, outgoing Shin Bet chief Avraham Shalom, and three other Shin Bet officials to submit affidavits regarding the events leading to the presidential pardons within seven days.