Betzedek filed a High Court petition on Sunday 23 Adar II
against the agreement Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signed with
Shinui for its support of the state budget in exchange for
NIS 700 million in funding. The petition was filed against
the Prime Minister, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the
government, the Knesset and Shinui.
In the petition, Betzedek Director Rabbi Mordechai Green asks
the court to cancel the agreement, charging that the deal
contains legal flaws, blatantly violates the Government
Foundation Law, is unethical, lacks authority, infringes on
fundamental rights and violates a High Court ruling and the
Attorney General's instructions to the government.
Exactly what the budget funds will be used for is unstated in
the agreement and left to Shinui's discretion, which is one
of its main flaws.
The agreement, writes Attorney Rabbi Green in his petition,
"appears to cross the red line into [the realm of] acquiring
power with money [that is, bribery], since this agreement was
made between the government and a political party with the
provision of a political payment equivalent to a sum of NIS
700 million."
Also, according to law the Budget Law must incorporate the
legal and factual aspects of the budget as they can be
foreseen at the time of its passage. Therefore it must
include any coalitional or political agreements that were
made before its passage. In this case it did not include the
agreement with Shinui and did not address where the money
will be spent nor where the money will come from.
Attorney Green also notes that the usual rule is that
political agreements are signed between members of the
Knesset or between political parties. In this case the
agreement was signed between the government and a political
party. "This mixing of entities is certainly not desirable
and appears to be illegal."
Another legal flaw in the agreement is that it seeks to
prevent the government and the ministers from making
decisions that are not acceptable to a special committee to
be set up by the prime minister and Shinui. Shinui, as an
opposition party, has no legal standing to do this and such
an agreement appears to contradict the Foundation Law of the
government.
"The agreement also includes the phrase, `any additional
matter based on the decision of Shinui.' This seeks to
include topics and issues that were not specifically
mentioned and are left obscure and hidden. Therefore this
agreement cannot be seen as having been properly placed
before the Knesset, as is require," reads the brief of Rabbi
Green. Rabbi Green also notes that the committee to be set up
is not properly described and its methods of operation and
how it will be set up are not detailed. Since it has so much
influence on the budget, all these matters, including the
membership of the committee itself, should be made public.
Betzedek is asking the High Court to issue an interim order
instructing the government to refrain from reaching decisions
directly or indirectly aimed at finding sources of funding to
carry out the agreement, since "making such a decision would
have an immediate and detrimental effect on the country's
citizens, their faith in government authorities and of course
the budget for the remaining ministries, including the
Defense Ministry."
The organization is also requesting an injunction against the
government or Shinui setting up or convening a joint team as
provided in the agreement or allocating the funds Shinui
demanded. Furthermore, and separately, Attorney Green is
asking the government to legislate an amendment to the 2005
Budget Law requiring detailed disclosure of how all the funds
are distributed, the same as is required of all other
political agreements.
The hearing will be held in less than two weeks and the judge
has required the State to respond to the petition within ten
days.
