High Court maintains pressure on government over opening airport
The High Court of Justice late Sunday ordered the government to provide it with updated statistics on how many overseas Israelis might be unable to get into the country to vote absent judicial intervention.
The order appeared to keep the pressure on the state by demanding the numbers by 4:00 p.m. on Monday. But it also signaled some hesitation by the justices, as it is the second interim order they have issued without reaching a final decision.
Justice Neal Hendel suggested that it was insufficient for the state to throw up its hands and say it could not accommodate Israeli citizens to return home to vote because of an insufficient volume of mechanical tools or personnel to ensure quarantine measures for them.
Rather, he implied, rolling the dice a bit on the quarantine issue for a short period of weeks leading into the election might be in order and should not overly undermine the trend of coronavirus rates in the country dropping.
Last week, the High Court seemed to signal that it would rule against the government and order Ben-Gurion Airport to be fully opened to overseas Israeli citizens who wish to vote in the March 23 election.
The justices last week issued a conditional interim order demanding the government explain by Sunday why it is legal for it to limit the amount and schedule of Israeli voters
who want to come into the country to vote.
The aggressive schedule set by the court, which stated that the government must respond by 11:30 a.m. Sunday, and the petitioners must counter no later than 2:30 p.m., suggested that the justices might rule by Sunday afternoon or evening.
However, it seemed that the justices were still having misgivings about how much their order could impact the coronavirus trends nationwide and might be concerned about later being blamed for causing a fourth wave and a fourth lockdown.
It was unclear whether the top court’s demand for updated statistics was truly its focus or whether the justices were buying additional time to weigh their possibilities and to shorten any period of time they might order Ben-Gurion Airport to be open.
This could have the impact
of reducing how many overseas Israeli voters get to exercise their voting rights even if the High Court eventually orders a full opening. But it might also reduce the risk of a fourth wave.
Early last week, multiple parties filed a petition with the High Court demanding that it order the government to allow all Israelis overseas who want to return to vote in the upcoming election back into the country.
The petition said the recent government expansion of how many Israelis can return was inadequate, as it was limited to 1,000 per day at certain entry points, with a maximum on some days of 3,000.
Further, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel took the government to task for limiting entry points for returning citizens.
According to the petition, Israel is the only country in the world imposing such curbs on returning citizens, though many countries have stopped noncitizens from entering.
The NGO asked for an immediate emergency order by the court so that the situation will be amended in time for Israelis to arrive before Election Day on March 23.
This is not the only petition the movement has filed regarding entry controversies at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Two weeks ago, it filed a petition to compel the government to publicize its decision-making process for granting special permits to enter the country through Ben-Gurion Airport during the recent lockdown.
“There is a suspicion that the decisions were made with preference to people who have special connections in the corridors of power,” the movement warned.
According to the NGO, the special committee for granting exemptions must publicize in detail the justifications for its various decisions to confront allegations of “systematic discrimination” and “giving preference to certain sectors.”
In recent weeks, Ben-Gurion Airport has been mostly closed to limit the entry of new coronavirus cases from abroad, with only a few exceptions.
At the same time, there have been allegations that during this period, the government gave preference to special entry to people from the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector and other potential voters who would support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and parties aligned with the Likud.
Israel’s long-awaited move to highspeed Internet is picking up speed. Bezeq International and HOT Communications are both launching superfast fiber-optic networks this week and plan to connect hundreds of thousands of additional households to broadband technology by the end of the year.
Israel’s adoption of high-speed Internet until now has been very slow, and the country’s fixed-line download speeds rank about 30th in the world. Until now, broadband Internet was available mainly to the IDF, schools and business clients, as well as households in a very limited number of locations, a Communications Ministry spokesman said.
The ministry has made increasing deployment by the end of the year a top priority, and the launch of a new fiber-optic network by Bezeq, Israel’s largest communications company, will greatly accelerate adoption, the spokesman said.
Bezeq said Sunday it would offer two packages: 600 MB surfing speed for NIS 109 per month and 1 GB speed for NIS 119 per month. Not included in that price is another NIS 19.90 for the Internet provider, NIS 20 per month for a Bezeq router, if needed, and a one-time cost of NIS 450 for installing the physical connection in the home or office, if none exists.
Bezeq said the installation charge was a promotional rate that may double after June 15, and it can be spread out over 36 months for NIS 12.50 a month, meaning the total cost could be more than NIS 170 per month.
Industry analysts were surprised by the extra charge for installation and speculated that other providers may decide to follow suit.
Bezeq said it expects to be able to offer maximum speeds of 2.5 GB, instead of 1 GB, within several weeks. About a million
households will be able to connect to its fiber optics, constituting 40% of all households in Israel, by the end of the year, it said.
Last week, Hot Communications said it would begin sales of packages for its fiber-optic network in the coming days.
Israel now has three broadband Internet providers – Bezeq, Partner and a partnership between Hot, Cellcom and IBC, which is a fiber-optic venture from Israel Electric.
Last month, Hot acquired a portion of IBC in a move arranged by the Communications Ministry to help make the network available to at least 1.7 million Israeli households within five years. Partner is also seeking an investor to help it roll out its network at a faster pace.
“I welcome the announcement by Bezeq and Hot of their intention to start providing fast Internet on their fiber-optic
networks,” acting Communications Minister Benny Gantz said. “After a lost decade in the field of infrastructure, the time has come for every citizen everywhere in the country to have high-speed Internet. Accelerating the rate of fiber deployment is an important achievement for the Israeli economy and for all Israeli citizens. The coronavirus period has demonstrated the urgent need to upgrade the infrastructure.”
The launch of Bezeq’s service follows the completion of its new FIBER+ underwater cable that doubles its traffic capacity to 25 terabytes per second. The company said it plans to invest billions of shekels in the project over the coming years at a faster rate than other telecom providers.
Bezeq’s promotional campaign for the new service will feature music star Noa Kirel.