Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has appealed to the Supreme Court to reconsider its demand that the Prime Minister reveal the details of private conversations between himself, the owner of the Israel Hayom newspaper Sheldon Adelson, and other senior officials at the paper.
Netanyahu has called for the court to hold an additional hearing on the matter, bringing an expanded panel to weigh in on his request, rather than the original three-member tribunal.
“The court’s ruling with regard to the handing over of [details of] the Prime Minister’s private phone conversations with Sheldon Adelson and [former Israel Hayom chief editor] Amos Regev constitutes a fatal blow to the right of privacy,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“In the short time since the court’s decision, we have witnessed a massive surge in the number of requests for the contents of private telephone conversations and details of private meetings of many public servants and elected officials – and that’s just the beginning.”
The PMO added that the Prime Minister was not calling for the overturning of the court’s original order, “for the simple reason that he has nothing to hide.”
“Nevertheless, because of the importance of the principle of the basic right of privacy the Prime Minister is addressing, and due to the flood of requests since the decision, the Prime Minister calls on the Supreme Court to hold an additional hearing, with an expanded panel [of judges] to rule on the sensitive key issues stemming from the [original] decision.”