The High Court of Justice rejected a motion by NGO Movement for Quality Government to prevent convicted sex offender and leader of the Shuvu Banim hasidic sect Eliezer Berland from being allowed to light the Lag Ba'omer torch at Mount Meron this year.
The MQG, along with haredi activist Tzippy Lavi and five other women's rights groups, had requested that the court cancel the permit granted to the sect to light the fire.
Given that this is a government-subsidized event, the groups argued, it is a moral oversight and is harmful to the public.
The court rejected the petition out of hand due to the "delay in submitting the procedure," as the application was only made three days before the event.
The High Court emphasized that due to the tight timeline, it would not be possible to conduct an effective judicial review.
In response to the court's ruling, MQG claimed that the Meir Porush-led Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Ministry hid the list of honorees until the last minute in order to escape public criticism and legal proceedings.
"It is unfortunate that the High Court chose not to discuss the outrageous decision that allows a convicted sex offender to receive a state stage," MQG's statement read.
Violation of Porush's previous commitment, MQG claims
MQG also denounced the controversy due to it being a violation of a previous commitment by Porush, which would require a sanction to impose any event that involved the participation of the Shuvu Banim sect.
"Even if the petition was not discussed in its entirety, raising the issue on the public agenda exposed the serious moral and administrative failure in the conduct of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition," MQG said. "We will continue to fight against granting state legitimacy to sex offenders."
Lag Ba'omer will take place on Thursday night and early Friday morning.
