Precedential Appeal to the Supreme Court: to Enshrine the Status of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission in Primary
Legislation
Israeli Disarmament Movement
25 May 2016
More than 100 Israeli citizens filed an appeal today (25 May) to the Supreme Court to require legislative oversight of
the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. The petitioners: "the most hazardous industrial complex in the country operates in
secrecy, without public control, oversight, or even under the law. The present situation is dangerous.
Over 100 Israeli citizens filed an appeal to the Supreme Court today (25 May), through attorney Itay Mack, citing the
government's refusal to enshrine the operations of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in primary legislation.
The petitioners demand the establishment of legislation to regulate operations of the IAEC, its roles, authority, form
of organisation and management, and to require monitoring of its activities and facilities.
The petitioners contend that, though the IAEC was created in 1952, its roles and methods of monitoring its activities
have never been enshrined in law. Instead they were established in a secret administrative order, issued by the
then-Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and later via a series of secret government rulings. The failure to regulate the
IAEC's operations through Knesset legislation is an extraordinary lacuna, adversely impacting democracy and the rule of
law in Israel. In the same way that operations of the General Security Services were enshrined in the General Security
Services Law in 2002, so should the operations of the IAEC.
"The ambiguity typifying the work of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission has become dangerous in itself for Israeli
citizens", notes Sharon Dolev, Director of the Israeli Disarmament Movement. "While vagueness regarding the existence of
nuclear arms in Israel has always been the policy of Israel's governments, its broadening into aspects pertaining to
citizens' health and security, the dangers deriving from the condition of the aging reactor, and long-term environmental
hazards, is totally unjustified. This is what we hope to change by appealing to the Supreme Court. Legislative oversight
of the Commission's endeavours will allow genuine tracking by professional entities - from the State Comptroller to the
Environmental Protection Ministry".
Mossi Raz, former Knesset Member and Chair of the Israeli Disarmament Movement's board, said that, "Ahead of Israel's
70th year, the use of nuclear technology must be institutionalized and regulated. The appeal does not express opinions
for or against the IAEC. Rather it presents a demand that the IAEC act in accordance with the law".
"This petition to the Israeli Supreme Court concerns the very principle and substance of the rule of law. The nuclear
issue in Israel is wrapped in opacity, in both legal and democratic terms. And precisely because Israel is perceived
world-wide as a nuclear state for all practical purposes, legislating the nuclear issue will mean applying the rule of
law to this fateful subject, still suspended in a twilight zone", commented Prof. Avner Cohen of the Middlebury
Institute of International Studies in Monterey, author of Israel and the Bomb (1998). Cohen is a scholar who has focused
on the Israeli nuclear issue for over 30 years.
Nadav Sha'altiel, member of the Israel Disarmament Movement, said: "The present situation damages the principles of
democracy and the rule of law. It creates a major concrete problem of conflicting interests, since the IAEC is
simultaneously the executive body and the supervisory body. Its operations have an inherent conflict of interest".
Attorney Itay Mack added that the petition isn't intended to terminate the 'secret kingdom': "Any law legislated will
obviously preserve some opacity regarding the full extent of the conflicting interests within the IAEC. But we hope that
at least its authority, structure, and monitoring of its operation will be enshrined in legislation".
Over 100 Israeli citizens signed the petition, which was filed by Attorney Itay Mack at the initiative of the Israeli
Disarmament Movement. The list includes lecturers, peace movement activists, and opinion-leaders.
ENDS