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26 Cheshvan 5765 - November 10, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Court Sides With Betzedek on Disclosure of Shabbos Work Permits
by Betzalel Kahn

The Jerusalem District Court is weighing its ruling on a petition filed by Betzedek to obtain the names of businesses that have received permits to work on Shabbos. During the course of the proceedings the State had to retract its opposition in principle to publicizing the information, which could help promote the battle against the growing incidence of State-sanctioned chilul Shabbos by making known which businesses hold permits to operate on Shabbos and the operative factors in the respective decisions to grant each permit.

Attorney Rabbi Mordechai Green, director of Betzedek, recently received complaints that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headed by Ehud Olmert, has been violating the Work and Rest Hours Law by freely handing out permits to businesses to employ Jews on Shabbos.

In order to clarify the matter, Betzedek asked the Commerce Ministry to provide a detailed, up-to-date list of all of the businesses and organizations that hold permits, and the reasons cited in each case. The request was submitted under the Freedom of Information Law, which requires government institutions to provide every citizen, upon request, with information related to State activity.

At first the Ministry adamantly refused to provide the requested information. In response to Betzedek's request, the ministry official in charge of freedom of information said that information regarding the permits is a "professional or commercial secret" liable to harm the businesses if divulged, since certain segments of the population might boycott them.

But after Betzedek stated its case in court, the Ministry announced that it accepted the petitioner's stance in principle, but sought to apply a clause in the Freedom of Information Law that would allow it to withhold the information for an extended period. According to this clause, the State's counsel argued, the Ministry must send written notices to all businesses liable to suffer harm from the release of the information, wait for a set period for objections by the businesses in question, consider the reasons given and then decide whether to disclose the information or not.

During the court proceedings, Attorney Green dismissed the Ministry's new contention outright, saying the State was making irregular use of the clause. Noting that the Work and Rest Hours Law is intended to defend workers, Green argued that the employers were not the ones who stand to be harmed by disclosure of the information.  

Green also claimed that information on permits to work on Shabbos cannot be referred to as a "professional secret" and that the State simply appears to be concealing potentially embarrassing information from the public.

Following these claims, the court asked the defense to provide concrete examples of the type of damage the disclosure of the information could cause, but when the State's counsel failed to do so at an early stage in the proceedings, the judge dismissed the relevance of this argument.

In his conclusions, Green noted that the right to receive the information is a fundamental right that allows critique of government activities and decision-making, calling this an essential condition for the operation of a democratic state. Denying the citizen access to information misleads potential consumers and represents a violation of the citizen's freedom of religion and the right to live in accordance with his worldview, in addition to other fundamental rights such as the right to spend his own money freely, the right of autonomous will and the right to equality.

At the end of the proceedings, the court suggested that the State pass on the names of the businesses to Betzedek immediately, while withholding the explanations for the permits until receiving written consent or detailed objections from the respective businesses. The counsel for the defense rejected this arrangement. Therefore, a formal ruling is now being prepared.

Jurists speculate that the State's resistance indicates that disclosing information would reveal departures from legal requirements. This obstinacy reinforces the need to disclose the information, they say.

This court victory promises to pave the way for the campaign to prevent major breeches in the walls of Shabbos, further violations in the status quo on religion and more stringent adherence to relevant laws.

 

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