The High Court last week rejected two petitions submitted by
Police Officer Chezi Almassi from Maagalim in the Negev and
Sgt. Avraham Ronen from Ashdod, who wanted to remain in the
police force without being forced to work on Shabbos. Adv.
Menachem Chakmon, who represented one of the petitioners,
reacted to the High Court's decision by stating that this
was a grim day for the State of Israel.
In his petition, Chakmon outlined the series of events which
led to Almassi being dismissed from his job. He related that
Almassi had been working as an officer in the police force
for nine years in various fields and because of his talents
had even been recommended by his superiors for a course for
officers.
During the years 1992-98 Almassi had worked in the police
station at Netivot and had undertaken his tasks diligently.
"The petitioner comes from a religious home and observed all
the commandments while he was working at Netivot police
station. His superiors took his religious requirements into
account whenever possible." It was stressed in the petition
that whenever Almassi was required to work on Shabbos he
would walk to the police station, even though it was five
kilometers away from his home.
In the last few years, Almassi became more religious, and
several months ago, when he was transferred to the Beer
Sheva Police Station to work as an officer in the
reconnaissance unit, he pointed out to the regional
commander that being religious and Shabbos-observant, he
could not travel to work on Shabbos because he lived too far
away to walk to the station and that this might be
problematic.
The regional commander's response was that the police force
worked around the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
and that Almassi would have to make a decision about his
future. Almassi consulted with the local rov and also with
the Chief Rabbi of the police. They explained to him that
the tasks performed by police reconnaissance units included
many tasks not involving pikuach nefesh or even
sofeik pikuach nefesh, such as the transportation of
policemen on Shabbos from their homes to police stations,
the interrogation of witnesses in non-urgent cases,
preparing written reports, writing out tickets for traffic
and parking offenses, as well as other matters.
The rabbis tried their best to help Almassi and talked to
both the regional and the district officers about him, but
both of these refused to listen to their requests and the
regional commander even ordered Almassi to take part in
routine tasks on Shabbos. Station commanders and other
senior officers expressed their willingness to impose duties
on the religious officer which did not involve Shabbos
desecration, but the senior command refused to accept any of
the proposals that were suggested and eventually Almassi was
dismissed from the police force.
In his summing up, covering dozens of pages, Adv. Chakmon
explains his client's standpoint. He also cites police
regulations which state explicitly that the requirements and
beliefs of the religious policemen have to be taken into
account and the military rabbinate must be consulted. In
this case there were many solutions to the problem and they
were ignored.
On the legal side, Adv. Chakmon argued that in the
circumstances the decision regarding Almassi was adopted
arbitrarily, lacking in good faith and proportion and was
tainted with unreasonableness. It was also illegal in that
it did not take into account the fact that Almassi was a
religious Jew wishing to observe Shabbos in a Jewish
state.
The Court sitting, in its capacity as the High Court, issued
a temporary order according to which Almassi was to be
allowed to return to his position in the police pending a
decision on the petition itself. Last week a hearing was
held in the presence of the parties. Sitting on the case
were Justices Eliyahu Matza, Yaakov Turkel and Edmond
Levy.
Already at the outset, the judges told the petitioner that
they advised him to withdraw his petition. They said that
the police command and not the police rabbi or the
petitioner himself were authorized to decide who would work
on Shabbos and which tasks he would perform, and that
Almassi could not continue to work in the police force if he
did not accept these conditions.
The judges further declared that they could not interfere
with the work of the police and that a refusal to work on
Shabbos was incompatible with performing the tasks of a
policeman which, by their very nature, necessitated working
seven days a week, including Shabbosos and Jewish holidays.
The judges declared unequivocally that the permanent police
regulations about working on Shabbos are reasonable, and
that it was the duty of a policeman to work at all hours
since the police was obligated to provide its services
around the clock.
The judges unanimously recommended that the petitioner
withdraw his petition. In the course of the hearing, Adv.
Chakmon attempted to reverse the effect of his client's
dismissal by informing the court that Almassi was ready to
give up his officer status and return to work as an ordinary
policeman at Netivot police station, to which he could walk
to on Shabbosos. The representative for the prosecution said
that she would consider this proposal and consequently the
dismissal notice has not yet gone into effect.
In the petition submitted by the policeman Avraham Ronen the
court made a similar decision and in that case too the
petition was withdrawn.
Reacting to the High Court's decision, Adv. Chakmon told our
correspondent that it was a sad day for the State of Israel
and for him personally: "This decision of the High Court
means that a policeman who genuinely wants to act within the
framework of the police and still observe the mitzvos is
likely to find himself dismissed from his job. This is an
unacceptable situation in a Jewish State, and contradicts
all the principles which guarantee a person's right to live
according to his faith. The High Court's standpoint also
contradicts the permanent police regulations, which clearly
state that a policeman's religious requirements are to be
taken into account and that the police rabbinate is to be
consulted on these matters."
According to Adv. Chakmon, this decision of the High Court
"affects the religious and traditional sectors in this
country which make up the majority of the population and who
are very upset about the High Court's position on this
matter, which has now reiterated the view it expressed in
the Ronen case. As a person with traditional beliefs, I take
a very serious view of this decision of the High Court. For
a policeman to be dismissed from his job only because of his
desire to keep Shabbos is a very grave matter. In the United
States and other countries the needs of a Jewish policeman
are taken into account more than in Israel!"
This ruling of the High Court is especially severe
considering the fact that all the members of the court are
considered to have traditional views, and two of them even
present themselves as being Shabbos-observant. The
standpoint of the High Court on this matter forms another
sorry chapter in the disregard of Shabbos kodesh
displayed by the organs of the State in this country.
Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who raised this topic recently in the
Knesset, said that he will arrange for a meeting in the
coming few days with the Minister for Internal Security, the
Police Inspector-General and other parties to ensure that
religious policemen can continue working without being
forced to be mechalel Shabbos, according to police
regulations.
