'Beinisch should disqualify herself from deliberating settlement issues'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch should disqualify herself from deliberating issues related to settlement activity in the West Bank, MK Otneil Schneller said Wednesday morning following a The Jewish Daily Forward report that during a meeting last month with US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones, Beinisch was asked to comment on rulings made by the supreme court regarding settlement activity in the West Bank. According to US administration sources quoted by The Forward report, Jones asked about "retroactive approval of illegal settlement neighborhoods" and about the factors that determined the positioning of the security fence. An Israeli source quoted by the report confirmed the meeting but said that the questions were construed as an attempt to understand rather than as a criticism of previous rulings made by the court. Beinisch had compromised her position by involving herself in political issues and by allowing the Americans to dictate judicial policy to her, Schneller told Israel Radio.