Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has now demanded that Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon of the Likud Party explain his decision to ban pre-vetted Palestinian workers from Jewish-run bus lines in the West Bank – a ban some Jewish Israelis, including at least one Member of Knesset, have called "apartheid."
Above: Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
Israel’s AG Demands Defense Minsiter Explain Decision To Ban Vetted Palestinian Workers From Jewish-Owned Buses
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has now demanded that Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon of the Likud Party explain his decision to ban pre-vetted Palestinian workers from Jewish-run bus lines in the West Bank.
Weinstein took that action after Justice Minister Tzipi Livini asked him to rule on the ban’s legality, Ha’aretz reported.
Ha’aretz broke the story of Ya’alon’s ban and reported that the IDF saw no security reasons to support it. It also reported that West Bank Jewish settlers pressured Ya’alon to issue the ban because they claimed the buses had become overcrowded because of the Arab passengers and that the Arab passengers harass female Jewish riders.
Then Sunday, Ya’alon’s office suddenly claimed the ban was issued for security reasons to protect Israeli citizens inside the Green Line from terror attacks – despite the IDF’s previous claim that this step was unnecessary because the Palestinian workers are vetted by both Israel Police and Israel’s internal security service commonly known as the Shin Bet before being given permits to work in Israel.
The ban caused an uproar among many on the left and center of Israeli politics and some, including at least one Jewish member of Knesset, called it apartheid.
A security official reportedly told Haaretz that that criticism is misplaced.
"There is no ban on taking buses with Israelis. The only thing that will happen is that laborers who are citizens of the Palestinian Authority will need to return through the same crossing they left so there will be supervision of entry and departure like in any sovereign country that protects itself and takes care to admit foreign residents into its territory in orderly fashion, through arranged crossings,” the official said.
On behalf of Weinstein, Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber asked for specific clarifications from Ahaz Ben Ari, the legal adviser to the Ministry of Defense.
Zilber reportedly asked for a list of facts and the considerations that Ya'alon used to reach his decision to ban the Palestinians. Zilber also asked for the opinions of security officials, for the legal opinion Ya'alon should have received prior to making the decision to issue the ban, and for an analysis alternative ways to handle whatever security threats there may be with regard to Palestinians riding those Jewish-run buses.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livini reportedly told Weinstein that if the regulation was really based on real security risks, it was in her opinion legitimate.
But Livni also reportedly quoted the Haaretz report which showed that the IDF saw no security threat with regard to the Palestinian workers riding the Jewish-run buses and that the move top ban those Palestinians was taken in repose to pressure from West Bank Jewish settlers over non-security reasons and asked Weinstein to get to the truth of the matter.
"The segregation, which is not anchored in security needs, is liable to escalate to illegal discrimination," Livni reportedly warned Weinstein.
The ban does not go into effect until December – even though there is apparently nothing within the security or defense establishment that would cause that delay, again calling into question Ya’alon’s honesty.
Related: