High Court orders state to respond within 5 days with justification for secrecy.
By JPOST.COM STAFFleb protest ap 298(photo credit: AP)
High Court Justice Edmond Levy on Wednesday issued an interim order to the Winograd Committee, probing the IDF's shortcomings during the Second Lebanon War, to open its doors to the public unless there was a genuine risk that the move would severely harm state security.
The state is required to respond within five days with a justification as to why the government-appointed committee is conducting the probe behind closed doors and why it is not prepared to publish the protocols of the testimonies heard until now.
Levy added that he was inclined to approve the petition fully and immediately, "but out of concern that it will cause a severe disruption to the work of the committee, I am avoiding doing so."
The decision followed a petition submitted on January 9 to the High Court by Meretz-Yahad MK Zahava Gal-On who wrote that the public was entitled to receive comprehensive and detailed information about the mistakes and failures that occurred during the fighting.
Earlier Wednesday, the State Attorney's Office released a statement in the name of Attorney General Menahem Mazuz saying that "the public right to know should be realized in the framework of the interim report and the final report of the committee which will soon be submitted."
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