The High Court of Justice issued an interim order on Thursday against a law that would allow the appointed temporary Tiberias mayor to run in the October municipal elections despite countrywide restrictions on caretaker local authorities immediately running in elections.
A hearing was set by court for July 30 for arguments on a petition filed by The Anti-Corruption Movement (TLM) and the Israeli Movement filed a petition July 5 alongside Tiberias mayoral candidate Shani Illuz. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel also filed a petition on the issue.
The Tiberias Law, passed on July 4, would allow appointed caretaker Mayor Boaz Yosef, an ally of Shas chairman Arye Deri, to run for office despite a mandatory cooldown period for interim mayors. Critics argue the law, which only applies to its namesake city, is a highly personal piece of legislation. TLM said that it was not the first time that Likud MK Amit Halevi, who submitted the bill, had proposed personal laws.
Yosef was appointed by the Interior Ministry after former mayor Ron Koby was forced out of the position in 2020 after failing to pass a municipal budget.
Petitioners cite unfair advantages and potential for abuse of power
The petitioners argued that the current arrangement preventing government appointees from running for office was designed to prevent unfair advantages for unelected officials. Such officials enjoy the benefit of legitimacy lended by holding the office, something democratically unearned and a privilege not shared by their rivals. Accordingly, TLM has argued that officials like Yosef are supposed to be apolitical.
The city of Tiberias on Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). (credit: ISRAEL TOURISM/WIKIPEDIA)A danger of giving this advantage to Interior Ministry appointees would be the reduced autonomy of local government from the state, said petitioners, and give an incentive for politicians to insert associates favorable to them.
The petitions also claimed that the Tiberias law “changed the rules of the game while playing.”
Other controversy has attended the Tiberias mayor elections, as Illuz also claimed that she had been offered jobs in exchange for dropping out of the race.
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