On Thursday, June 26, Green Now, a sub-organization of the Legal Forum for Israel petitioned The Supreme Court against Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz due to his refusal to include Green Now in the list of entities recognized by law to prevent environmental hazards, (civil claims).
In the petition, Green Now claims that the decision to refuse Green Now's request was made offhandedly and without reason, without consideration, and contrary to the decision made by his predecessor, Minister Gilad Ardan. The petitioners are demanding that the Court require Minister Peretz to add Green Now to the organizations recognized by law and require him to pay legal costs.
Green Now is an environmental NGO with unique characteristics who represent a large section of the Israeli public, and who acts to improve and advance the environment all across Israel, in all aspects, while recognizing that pollution has no borders. Among its activities, Green Now is also active protecting the environment in Judea and Samaria. Only recently, following a petition by Green Now against pollution caused by IDF bases in Judea and Samaria the organization was praised by the judges who ordered the army to pay Green Now's legal costs.
In 2012 Green Now requested from former Minister Gilad Ardan to add their organization to the list of organizations recognized by law, which was under his authority, for reasons of protecting public interests. Minister Ardan agreed to this request and forwarded the request to the legal department of the Ministry, who then submitted the application to the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee for final confirmation. However, shortly after the application was submitted the previous Knesset completed its term and the request was put on hold.
Following the elections and the appointment of Minister Peretz, Green Now requested that the process be resumed, but did not receive a response for over six months. Only after Green Now contacted the Ombudsman following the lengthy delay did the Minister reply and he refused the application on the grounds that "there are enough organizations that are already recognized."
Attorneys Hila Cohen and Tomer Israel from the Legal Forum who represented Green Now stated that the Minister reached his decision with improper conduct, in an inconsistent and unreasonable manner, with regard both to the decision itself and the reasons behind it.
In the petition, Green Now requested that the Court order the Minister to examine the request in a professional and objective manner. The Minister should have responded to the request within a reasonable time, after reviewing it, by taking into account the relevant considerations, in particular the fact that the request was already approved by his predecessor. It appears that the reasons behind this decision had nothing to do with environmental protection or the law, but rather extraneous and irrelevant factors.
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