The High Court of Justice on Tuesday night canceled a hearing scheduled for Thursday on petitions urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), ruling that there was “no practical point” in holding the session absent a substantive response from the prime minister on the petitions’ factual claims.
In a decision signed by Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit, Deputy President Justice Noam Solberg, and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, the court said it had reviewed the parties’ filings and noted that the government’s preliminary response leaned primarily on a broad “principled position.”
The position was “not necessarily influenced by” the specific alleged events involving Ben-Gvir - while largely avoiding a detailed engagement with the factual record presented by other parties.
Because the administrative decision at the center of the petitions is Netanyahu’s own decision - and because the court said it did not have before it a meaningful, fact-specific position from him - the justices determined that proceeding as planned would not be useful.
At the same time, the court ordered that the petitions be transferred to an expanded five-justice panel, citing the “weight” of the issues raised and relying on the statutory mechanism allowing expansion of the bench.
The court stated that the expanded panel would consider, at the start of February, whether to issue a conditional order - a step that would require the respondents to formally justify why the relief sought by petitioners should not be granted - and would also rule on pending motions to join the proceedings.
A new hearing date is to be set no later than the end of March 2026, the decision said.
Netanyahu pressed for a fact-specific response on Ben-Gvir
The court further said it would not, on its own initiative, add the Knesset as a respondent, emphasizing that the challenged administrative decision is Netanyahu’s, while leaving open the possibility that the Knesset could ask to be added if it believes it is a relevant party.
The consolidated set of petitions lists Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and the attorney general among the respondents, alongside requests by additional parties to join - including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and other entities and individuals.