The High Court of Justice gave the government and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) until Thursday to respond to a petition seeking state protection for Democrats chairman Yair Golan, but declined on Tuesday to order immediate protection at this stage.
Justice Ofer Grosskopf said the authorities were expected to continually consider the need to protect Golan in accordance with the latest assessment of the threats against him.
The brief order did not decide whether Golan is entitled to Shin Bet protection. It required the state to submit a preliminary response by Thursday, ahead of any further court consideration of the petition.
The Democrats party and Golan petitioned the court on Tuesday to compel Shin Bet chief David Zini and the government to provide him with state protection amid what they described as dozens of explicit threats to kill him or harm his family.
The petitioners had asked the court to order immediate protection even before receiving the state’s response, keep it in place until the case was decided, and hold an urgent hearing. They also sought a preliminary state response within 72 hours.
The petition said Golan remained without protection from any state body despite the threats and the heightened tensions surrounding the October 27 election.
The party had warned that it would seek legal action after three written requests went unanswered. Two were addressed to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee and copied to security and legal officials. The third was sent directly to Zini on September 22, with a response requested by September 27, according to the petition.
Public advisory committee recommended Shin Bet security for Eisenkot
The Democrats said Israel Police had raised Golan’s threat level to four on a six-point scale, which the party described as high and identical to the rating assigned to Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, another opposition party leader.
A public advisory committee recommended in late August that Eisenkot receive Shin Bet protection until the election but made no such recommendation concerning Golan. The Democrats accused the committee at the time of acting on political considerations.
Zini approved Shin Bet protection for Eisenkot on Sunday. Eisenkot’s team nevertheless confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that a security detail had not yet been assigned to him. The Shin Bet later confirmed that it had no intention of providing a security team for Eisenkot.
The Shin Bet said later on Tuesday that Zini had approved a series of measures to provide security to party leaders, which included intelligence units providing an intelligence oversight and support framework for the party leaders, authorization for security teams hired by party leaders to carry weapons, coordination between the Shin Bet and said security teams, and conducting periodic situation assessments to evaluate the threat level for each party leader.
Shin Bet chief Zini recently authorized to decide security for party leaders
Earlier this month, the Ministerial Committee for Shin Bet Affairs authorized Zini to determine the security arrangements required for party leaders who do not hold public office and are not otherwise entitled to state protection. The authorization remains in effect until the next Knesset is sworn in.
The petition includes screenshots of posts calling for Golan to be shot or hanged and threatening members of his family. It also says his name appeared in a death-threat letter attached to a brick thrown at Channel 12’s news studios on July 27, and that he was the only party leader named in the letter.
Under the Shin Bet Law, the agency is responsible for protecting people designated by the government. The petition argues that protecting Golan falls at the core of the agency’s responsibility to safeguard Israel’s democratic institutions.
“A candidate who cannot appear in public without risking his life is restricted in conducting his election campaign compared with candidates who are not subject to a similar threat,” the petition states. “Harming a candidate because of his political positions during an election period is an attack on the electoral process itself.”
“We will not sit idly by while the next political murder is being planned,” the Democrats said. “We demand that the High Court intervene immediately, before it is too late.”