High Court dismisses Shas petition after Ovadia Yosef memorial conference canceled

The High Court of Justice dismissed a Shas petition on Wednesday seeking to revive a state-funded conference in memory of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, after the Religious Services Ministry said it could no longer hold the event as planned.

The ruling leaves the central dispute unresolved: whether the government could have paid for the conference weeks before the October 27 election without giving Shas, the party Yosef founded, an electoral advantage. The judges did not decide whether Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara was right to require its postponement.

The three-day event had been planned for October 6-8 at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. On Monday, ministry director-general Yehuda Avidan informed the Jerusalem Municipality that it was canceled. He cited the attorney-general’s position, the time needed to produce the event, and the continuing court proceedings.

During the Wednesday hearing, the judges told the parties that a petition over whether the planned conference could proceed had become theoretical once the ministry said it could no longer take place. Avidan asked the court to direct the ministry to hold it despite the attorney-general’s position, but the judges declined.

Annual commemoration falls less than two weeks before 2026 election

A 2025 law requires the Religious Services Ministry to hold a conference examining Yosef’s life and work on the annual day commemorating him or near it. That day falls on October 14 this year, less than two weeks before the election. Shas argued that moving the conference until after the vote would break the link to the date specified by law.

The ministry had proposed holding the conference earlier in October, with no party symbols or political speeches. Its legal adviser concluded that those restrictions would allow it to go ahead during the election campaign.

The proposed program extended beyond lectures. Documents accompanying Shas’s petition describe an interactive exhibition, a quiz on Yosef’s religious rulings, a reconstructed gathering featuring recordings of him, a virtual-reality film and musical performances. The ministry presented these as ways to teach visitors about his religious legacy.

Scale and timing of the government-funded event still posed a risk, AG said

The attorney-general’s office argued that the scale and timing of the government-funded event still posed a risk of election campaigning, particularly because Yosef’s image and legacy feature in Shas’s campaign. It said the conference should be held after the election. Its position did not prevent memorial services and other official ceremonies from taking place on schedule, or privately funded events from being held before the vote.

Shas disputed the suggestion that Yosef’s connection to the party made an event commemorating him into election propaganda. It argued that the restrictions proposed by the ministry would address any risk of political use without postponing an event required by law.

A community association that joined the proceedings took the opposite view. It argued that the planned program resembled a large public celebration more than the conference required by the law, and that government resources should not be used for an event so closely associated with a party during an election campaign.

The ministry’s legal duty to hold a conference remains. It has said it could discuss an alternative event with the municipality, but it has not yet announced a replacement date.