Judge Yisrael Axelrod
Judge Yisrael AxelrodCourt website

Laws must be obeyed, but what is one to think when the principle is upheld differently based on nationality?

As the vote on the Regulation Law that could save Givat HaUlpana nears, nationalist Facebook users have been sharing a link to a news article from the recent past. The item concerns the illegal Bedouin community of Al Sara in the Negev, where 51 illegal structures were built.

In late 2011, Kiryat Gat Magistrates' Court Judge Yisrael Axelrod ruled that the 51 demolition orders issued by the state against the structures were null and void.

The judge asked why the demolition orders were only issued in 2006, when the Bedouin families have been living at the location for dozens of years, and when the state has no immediate need for the land in question.

One can only wonder why a similar question did not guide the High Court judges when they ordered the demolition at Givat HaUlpana neighborhood, which was created with full state approval 12 years ago.

Maariv journalist Kalman Libeskind has also shown that judges ruled differently on illegal construction when Arabs are the ones building illegally,  or when the legal owner of the land is not an Arab