Summary of Position Paper No 56
Distributed: 28.8.2023
Summary
The Israeli Law Professors’ Forum for Democracy is an ad hoc and voluntary group of experts on Israeli law, particularly Israeli public law. This paper deals with restrictions imposed by the police on demonstrations outside the private residence of public figures. It is our position that:
· The a priori restrictions that the police impose on demonstrations outside the private residence of public figures are illegal, as their imposition exceeds the powers given to the police.
· In addition, these restrictions violate the requirement of proportionality. There is good reason to suspect that they are imposed arbitrarily and on the basis of irrelevant considerations. As such, they infringe excessively and without sufficient justification the right to demonstrate, a fundamental constitutional right at the core of the right to freedom of political speech.