Former heads of the ISA's investigation department, appointed by the acting president of the Supreme Court, Judge Uzi Vogelman, are working to expose the journalistic source who leaked the decision on the reasonability standard, contrary to their warrant, which limited their involvement to only systemic aspects of information security.
Court employees told Israel Hayom that they were directly asked who leaked the decision, and were even specifically asked about the offices of two Supreme Court judges.
Although the warrant allows for the incrimination of the subjects, employees claim that their rights in the process were not made known to them.
At the beginning of February, after a draft of the Supreme Court's probability decision was leaked to Channel 12 News, Vogelman appointed, "a team to examine the systemic aspects related to the disclosure of information from the draft decision".
The team, which includes former heads of the ISA's investigation department, Haggai Avimor, and Eyal Dagan, was determined by the warrant to be entitled to investigate only "systemic aspects" of information security. Judge Vogelman detailed the investigation's operations to be carried out by the team, but he did not grant the team the authority to expose the journalistic source.
It was also reported that during the last month, employees of the Supreme Court - judges, their legal assistants, interns, secretaries, computing staff, security, and others have been called for questioning. Some of the employees said that when they replied that they did not know who the journalistic source was, they were still asked to estimate who they thought it might be. According to sources, employees were specifically asked about the offices of two Supreme Court judges.
Some of the questions posed to the employees could endanger them under suspicion of a criminal or disciplinary offense. According to them, neither the court administration nor the inspection team bothered to inform the employees about their rights in the process.
The appointment of Avimor and Dagan to the inspection team also raises questions. Avimor was active against the legal reform and even requested to join the petition in the High Court's probability decision, which he is investigating.
Dagan was a member of the Marrari team, which examined the use of spyware by the police, and whose work turned out to be a failure.
The judiciary stated: "The inspection team consists of a former court administrator, Judge Michael Spitzer, and two former heads of the ISA investigation department who were selected based on their experience and professional background, and solely for that reason. In accordance with the appointment document, the team met with all the Supreme Court judges and with employees and system stakeholders. The meetings are voluntary and are conducted openly and in good spirit."
"Contrary to what is claimed, the team does not conduct investigations and therefore no warning is required. Moreover, the claim that the acting President hopes, through the team to expose journalistic sources, is absurd. The discussions are aimed at examining the working mechanisms that allowed the information to leak, and for formulating proposals to improve information protection in both human and technological aspects alike. The team is expected to submit a preliminary report and recommendations by the beginning of May, and thereafter a decision will be made on how to handle the issue. At this time, and as long as the investigation is ongoing, we cannot add further," the response stated.