Supreme Court Rejects Petition to Disqualify Yoram Cohen from Knesset
The Supreme Court rejected a petition seeking to disqualify former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen from running for the Knesset with the Yashar! party.
The Supreme Court rejected on Sunday a petition seeking to disqualify the Knesset candidacy of former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, who is running with the Yashar! party. The petition alleged Cohen was involved in directing torture against a minor and Amiram Ben Uliel during interrogations in the Duma affair.
A panel of judges, headed by Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and including Justices Ofer Grosskopf and Khaled Kabub, dismissed the request outright without a hearing, ordering the petitioners to pay 3,000 shekels in legal costs.
The High Court of Justice petition was filed by a group of activists from the 'Amiram Justice Headquarters', represented by Attorney Rahavia Pilc. They argued that Cohen's actions during his tenure as head of the agency—allegedly including backing the extraction of confessions by force and severe violations of human rights—contradict Israel's values as a Jewish and democratic state.
The Amiram Ben Uliel headquarters stated in response: 'A person who authorized severe violations of human rights and the blatant trampling of detainees' rights does not deserve to serve in the Knesset.'
