Supreme Court Justices Noam Solberg, Yael Vilner and Ofer Grosskopf rejected Sunday the petition filed by Ir Amim and a number of academics and Jewish intellectuals against the Jerusalem Day Flag March.
In an exceptional move, the justices decided to require the petitioners to pay the respondents NIS 10,000 in sums to be divided between the police, the Jerusalem municipality and the "Am Kalavi" organization, which has been organizing the event for years.
In the judgment, the justices noted that it may have been possible to reject the petition without having to deal with the petitioners' arguments at all, since they lack standing.
"We argued over the issue of the petitioners' right of standing in the petition, claiming that tens of thousands of residents of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City were damaged by the flag dance parade, but none of them saw fit to file a petition with the court. The petitioners, seeking their welfare, did so in their stead. The petitioners' attorney claimed that Muslims in the Old City were afraid of petitioning. It is difficult to accept this argument while we are hearing the petitions of the residents of the Old City of Jerusalem every day," said the head of the panel, Judge Solberg.
Later on, the justices held that the merits of the petition should also be rejected, in light of the fact that the police are properly preparing for the incident and are giving their opinion about all consequences.
"The state of things properly balances between the freedom of speech and the rights of those marching in the flag parade on the one hand, and the public and private interests of the residents of the Old City on the other," Solberg said.
According to him, "The police are preparing with large amounts of forces for the flag parade, in what pertains to the maintenance of public order, the safety and security of the marchers, while preserving the fabric of life of the residents of the Muslim Quarter."
The petitioners will pay the organization 10,000 NIS in compensation for their legal fees.
Adv. Nati Rom, representing the Am K'Lavie association that organized the flag parade said: "We congratulate the Jewish People on the rejection of petition by the extreme-Left organization Ir Amim to cancel the flag dance on Jerusalem Day.
"The court accepted our position in its entirety and even charged Ir Amim with expenses, testify to the vindication of our path.
"We hope the Petitioners will also join us and the more than 100,000 celebrants who will participate in the march," said Rom, who represented the association together with Adv. Hillel Barak.
