TEL AVIV, December 20, 2011 (WAFA) –
The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, adopted the law six months ago and Israeli human rights groups, such as Gush Shalom, and others quickly asked the Israeli Supreme Court to annul the law, which outlaws calls by activists to boycott illegal Israeli settlements built in the occupied territory.
However, said the press release, the State Attorney was unable to keep the date set by the judges for giving a response, again and again asking for more time and arguing that “the relevant parties must formulate clearly their positions.”
Attorney Gaby Lasky, representing Gush Shalom, asked the court to require the state to submit its position with no further delays as the relevant parties had already formulated their positions before the Knesset had passed the law and presented it to the Knesset itself when the Legislative Committee was debating the law in preparation for the second and third readings, said Gush Shalom.
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesman, commented: “I can sympathize with the situation of the State Attorney's staff who finds it difficult to formulate a defense for a law with which they were themselves not happy, to say the least, and having tried their best to dissuade the right-wing majority in the Knesset from enacting it.”
He said the law has already come into effect and therefore anyone who calls for a boycott of the settlements and their products is liable to be prosecuted and heavily fined.
'Actually, there had never been so many calls for a boycott of settlement products since the law was enacted intended to outlaw such calls,” he said.
“Various private persons, groups and movements – who had not participate in the boycott campaign conducted by Gush Shalom from 1996 until the enactment of the Boycott Law in July 2011 - came out with such boycott calls in the press and on Facebook precisely following the enactment of this law,” added Keller.
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