Judge Arnon Darel, a judge of the Jerusalem District Court, accepted the state's position presented through the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office - and rejected the petitions filed against the outline of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition, headed by Minister Meir Porush, regarding the manner in which the Lag BaOmer celebration will be produced in Meron.
According to the outline of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition, contracting with the producers of the various complexes in the Meron festival will be carried out through public tenders, and in addition, the ministry will contract, exempt from a tender, with a production consultant - who will provide advice and guidance on a number of matters, and will also manage the production of the festival, but will not provide production services itself.
This is different from the production of the 2013 celebration, when the ministry contracted, exempt from a tender, with 'Azrieli Productions Ltd.' - which also produced the 2012 celebration, after winning a closed tender by the 'National Center for Holy Places', and it was the entity that produced the entire 2013 celebration and was the one that contracted with service providers and subcontractors.
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In the petition by Azrieli Productions Ltd. against the outline of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition for 2014, it was claimed, among other things, that the outline creates a danger to public safety, is unreasonable, and the decision regarding it was made without a well-founded factual and professional foundation.
Azrieli Productions Ltd. also claimed, and in this regard the petitioner Kafim Marketing and Sales Promotion Ltd. also claimed in another petition, that the decision to contract with a production consultant for work that requires special trust relationships is unreasonable under the circumstances, and that the position does not require special trust relationships, and therefore it was necessary to publish a public tender for it.
It was also claimed that the ministry's approach in requesting four proposals from entities for which it had received recommendations from civil servants, and whom it allegedly did not know and did not have a relationship of trust with, was unreasonable and should be annulled and, alternatively, the petitioners be allowed to participate in this process.
The state, through attorney Meni Menachem of the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, claimed that the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition presented an improved production outline for 2014 and changed the method of contracting with producers, so that most contracts will be through public tenders.
However, the ministry maintained the principle of a single entity managing the entire production of the festival, a principle that emerges from the interim conclusions of the State Investigation Committee into the 'Meron Disaster', and is also required by the Israel Police, among other things.
This position was based both on professional reasoning, regarding the need for each complex to have its own producer, but there would still be one factor that would include everything and also be able to divert or steer loads, etc. between the complexes, and on economic reasoning, in that the improved outline would lead to savings in state expenses compared to last year, regarding which the control authorities noted that the prices the state paid were higher than market prices.
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This is a well-founded decision by the authorized authorities, which is based on a factual and professional foundation and was supported by the control authorities for the 2013 holiday as well as the position of the Israel Police.
It was also clarified that in light of the complexity, sensitivity, and uniqueness of the celebration - which is the largest civic event in Israel - it was necessary to ensure that the ministry would contract with a party with whom it was possible to establish a relationship of trust, a matter that could not be ensured through a public tender. This clarified the substantive justification for contracting in this manner.
Regarding the process of selecting the production consultant, it was clarified that the ministry contacted four relevant parties, threshold conditions were determined and examined, and an orderly process of selecting the winning proposal took place.
A judge at the Jerusalem District Court, as stated, accepted the state's position, rejected the petitions, and ordered Azrieli Productions Ltd. to pay the state's expenses in the amount of 25,000 shekels, as well as the expenses of the winning company - Banda Productions Ltd., in a similar amount.
In addition, the court ordered the petitioner, 'Kafim Marketing and Sales Promotion Ltd.', to pay state expenses in the amount of 15,000 shekels for the benefit of the state.
The court ruled: "This is a clear policy decision of the ministry [...] and the court has no authority to intervene in these matters, nor the means to review them.".
However, the court added, referring to the substance of the outline: "On the face of it, this is a justified move [...] a large number of tenders will be held that will allow for fair and open competition for all components of the production of the revelry. One of the main goals of the public tender will also be realized - optimizing the use of public funds.".
The court also rejected the claim that there is a fundamental change here from last year's outline and from the principle of one entity managing the entire production: "In this aspect, I accept the ministry's position that the change compared to the previous outline is not fundamental, since in any case Azrieli did not produce the revelry alone but rather assisted others [...] In fact, what changed in the outline that was formulated is the way in which the parties were contracted - direct contracting with Azrieli or public tenders, and from this to the claims of harm to safety or security, there is a long way to go.".
The court further clarified that it accepts the ministry's position that there is proper justification for contracting without a tender with the production consultant due to the need for a special relationship of trust and the fact that he will serve as the ministry's long arm in various matters, and that there was no defect in the process of receiving the bids and selecting the winner of this position that would justify the court's intervention in the decision.
