NGOs assisting the migrants decided to file an appeal against the Deposit Law, an initiative of the Israeli Immigration Policy Center. Their appeal was joined by the Restauranteur Association and a dozen women’s rights groups. All in all, 20 NGOs joined the appeal, represented by six lawyers dealing with the issue full-time, and two legal clinics. The UN High Commissioner on Refugees added an opinion attacking the law.

On the other side, the Israeli Immigration Policy Center was the only NGO added by the High Court of Justice as an official respondent, alongside the state and the Knesset. The IIPC was represented by lawyer Doron Taubman, from the Ram Caspi law firm. The court held a preliminary discussion with three justices in residence. The IIPC lawyer revealed that according to data collected by the government, the migrants send funds to their home countries – and therefore the claim that the Deposit Law constitutes significant harm to their rights is baseless. At the end of the discussion the court issued a conditional injunction regarding the clauses of the law dealing with the migrant’s share in the deposit, effectively limiting the state’s lever to prevent migrants refusing to leave the country from withdrawing the funds placed in the deposit by their employers. The court did not issue a conditional injunction holding back the employers from depositing their share to the fund (16%); the appeal against this clause of the law was rejected.

An expanded panel of five justices discussed the remaining clauses of the law on December 5 2017 and the IIPC is expecting the verdict. The third request for an injunction filed by the appellants requesting to freeze the law until a verdict is handed down was rejected.

העתירה

בקשת איגוד המסעדות בישראל להצטרף כעותרים

תגובה מקדמית מטעם המדינה

פרוטוקול הדיון המקדמי

בקשת המרכז להצטרף כמשיב

בקשה ראשונה של ארגוני הנשים להצטרף כ”ידידי בית המשפט”

בקשה שנייה של ארגוני הנשים להצטרף כ”ידידי בית המשפט”

חוות דעת של נציבות האו”ם לפליטים

הודעת עדכון וצירוף “תצהירים” מטעם העותרים

תגובת המדינה

פרוטוקול הדיון בהרכב מורחב