Israeli Supreme Court sparks controversy with ruling on the Sabbath permitting expanded anti-war demonstration – despite instructions by Home Front Command limiting gatherings.By World Israel News StaffThe Israeli Supreme Court on Saturday ordered the state to ease wartime restrictions on anti-war protests, allowing up to 600 demonstrators to gather at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square and up to 150 at several other locations, defying emergency limits imposed by the Home Front Command on public gatherings.In a controversial ruling issued during the Sabbath, the court found that the Home Front Command’s emergency restrictions on public gatherings had failed to give sufficient weight to freedom of expression and protest.The ruling came after the military had proposed permitting only 150 people in Tel Aviv and 50 elsewhere under emergency rules tied to ongoing missile and rocket threats from Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.The case was brought by far-left activists after police dispersed anti-war demonstrations the previous week in Tel Aviv and other cities, arguing they violated Home Front Command limits on public gatherings.During the court proceedings, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit questioned why demonstrations should effectively disappear during prolonged wartime conditions.In its interim intervention, the court said the army’s position appeared not to give “proper weight” to freedom of protest and ordered the state to present a more accommodating framework.The decision drew sharp criticism from the ruling coalition, who said it harmed public safety, and from religious leaders who slammed the court for issuing its ruling on the Sabbath.“The ruling endangers the demonstrators, the police, and our soldiers,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. “Are you for Israel?”The ultra-Orthodox Shas party condemned the ruling as a desecration of Shabbat and said it would file a complaint against the judges after the holiday, while Deputy Minister Yisrael Eichler and other ultra-Orthodox politicians accused the court of trampling religious norms.“May God destroy them,” said former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, calling the court’s judges “wicked heretics.”The Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall Plaza, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, lamented that while the court had raised the limits on public gatherings for the purpose of protests, prayer gatherings were still tightly restricted.“I find it difficult to understand why the right to protest is perceived as more important or more urgent than the right to pray,” he wrote.The outrage widened on Sunday as Education Minister Yoav Kisch denounced the judgment as “detached,” “scandalous” and dangerous, accusing the court of overriding professional security authorities during an active war.Despite the court’s ruling, the Tel Aviv protest exceeded the expanded limits approve by the Supreme Court, leading to confrontations between police and demonstrators, culminating in the arrest of 10 protesters.One man was injured during the protest when an air raid siren sent the demonstrators rushing to a public shelter.The court’s ruling may soon set the stage for a direct confrontation between the state and the Supreme Court, leading to a constitutional crisis.Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday proposed that the Cabinet vote to instruct police to continue to ignore the court’s ruling and to continue to enforce the Home Front Command’s limits.The post Supreme Court overrules restrictions on anti-war protests, sparking major backlash appeared first on World Israel News.