Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Wednesday evening that he had accepted the State's request to be represented by private counsel in order to defend the Regulation Law to the Supreme Court.
Mandelblit has refused to defend the law himself to the Supreme Court, arguing that in his opinion, it violates Israeli and international law.
Mandelblit's announcement states that there is room to allow the State to join as another respondent to the petition, and to allow it to submit its response through a private attorney.
It had been speculated that Mandelblit intended to testify against the law to the Supreme Court. His announcement that the State may defend the law suggests that he does not intend to do so and will instead allow the defense to proceed.
The Regulation Law stipulates that in situations where homes were in the past unknowingly constructed on private Arab property or alleged Arab property, the State would compensate the owner with another piece of land or with monetary compensation totalling 125% of the land's value.