The court recognizes that the petition was successful, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs making public the guidelines for issuing diplomatic passports
The Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, today Thursday 10 October, rejected the petition of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel regarding the issue of diplomatic passports to political cronies, because the state’s response to the petition noted that a criminal investigation into the affair had been opened, and the procedures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for issuing diplomatic passports were changed and published on the ministry’s website. The court recognized that following the petition the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the procedures governing the issuance of diplomatic passports, and is considering awarding costs in favor of the petitioner.
Judge Ruth Ronen stated in her decision that the third remedy requested in the petition – the publication of the procedures – had already been implemented with their publication on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As for the additional remedies requested, the cancellation and collection of those passports that had been issued or the re-examination of how they were issued, the court ruled that the police should be allowed to complete the criminal investigation of the matter.
Along with rejecting the petition, the Supreme Court ordered the respondents to respond by October 27, 2024 to the petitioner’s request for a ruling on costs in its favor, due to the significant achievement of making the procedures public.
Adv. Rotem Babli Dvir, head of the litigation department at the Movement for Quality Government in Israel: “We welcome the court’s decision to recognize the significant achievement of our petition – the publication of the Foreign Ministry’s procedures for issuing diplomatic passports. This is an important step towards transparency and good governance. Although the petition was rejected outright at this stage, following the petition a criminal investigation was opened and the procedures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were changed and published. We will continue to follow the development of the criminal investigation and will consider our future steps, with the aim of ensuring that the issuance of diplomatic passports will be done only according to objective criteria and with due process.”
