The Yesh Din organization and residents of the village of Burka, through their attorneys Michael Spard and Shlomi Zakaria, appealed to the Legal Advisor to the Government Gali Beharev Miara with the demand to open a criminal investigation into the suspicion that Ministers Yoav Galant and Bezalel Smotrich , as well as the Chief of Staff, the General of the Central Command and other army officers committed criminal offenses in connection with the work in Chomash.

According to them, extensive works were carried out in the area of the lands of the village of Burka, on which Chumesh is located, in order to move the buildings of the outpost to a piece of public land. In practice, new buildings were erected in the area. It is further claimed that according to reports that have not been denied, the army received legal advice from the IOSH ombudsman that these works are illegal and must be stopped, but at the same time the instructions of Ministers Gallant and Smotrich were received to allow their execution. The commanding general and officials in the central command were aware that the instruction of the political echelon was illegal (not to mention – clearly illegal), and therefore asked to receive the instruction of the political echelon in writing.

The letter reads: "In their actions, the ministers allegedly persuaded the army commanders to commit crimes of breach of trust, assistance to illegal construction, solicitation to violate military orders (which the military commander himself installed, under their direction!), abuse of official power, violation of statutory duty, inappropriate behavior, abnormal Authority and more. In their actions, the senior army officers committed all of the above crimes."

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Chomash (photo: Nasser Ishtia, Flash 90)

"Neither did it happen to us that we came across an incident that meant a demonstrable, deliberate, and direct crushing of the idea of the rule of law. The ministers made it clear in their instruction to the army commanders that their concept of governance is the rule of the rulers and not the rule of law. The Chief of Staff and the General of the Central Command made it clear in their choice to obey the ministers and not the law that they accept the dictatorial constitutional concept and reject the concept of the rule of law also applying to governors and legislators. ", it is claimed.

Mish Dean was informed: "The disregard for the rule of law and human rights demonstrated by ministers Smotrich and Galant, when they blatantly ignored the warnings of the ombudsman and knowingly violated the law, is only the promo for what may happen if the legal coup occurs. Those who gave the illegal instruction and those who carried it out should be held accountable. This is a test hour for the ombudsman and the rule of law."