The Shas party filed an urgent petition with Israel’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, challenging her decision to prevent a state-sponsored conference commemorating Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l from taking place ahead of the upcoming election.

Shas is accusing the attorney general of “selective and political enforcement,” arguing that her treatment of the Rav Ovadia memorial is inconsistent with the treatment of memorial events honoring slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.

According to Shas, memorial events for Rabin are permitted to take place even close to an election, while the state-sponsored conference honoring Rav Ovadia has been disqualified because of its proximity to Election Day.

“While memorial events for Yitzhak Rabin are held as usual close to elections, the memorial conference for Maran is disqualified, causing serious harm to the feelings of the faithful,” Shas argued.

Following the attorney general’s decision, Shas decided to bring the dispute before the High Court, filing an urgent petition challenging Baharav-Miara’s directive.

At the heart of the petition is the party’s contention that there is no justification for treating the conference honoring Rav Ovadia differently from other official memorial events.

Shas stressed that, from its perspective, the dispute is not merely about whether the conference will take place. The party argues that preventing an official gathering honoring Rav Ovadia constitutes a serious affront to the many people who regarded him as their spiritual leader.

Shas said that barring the event commemorating Rav Ovadia causes “serious harm to the feelings of the faithful.”

The controversy began after the Religious Services Ministry sought to hold the state-sponsored conference commemorating Rav Ovadia from October 6 through October 8, close to the anniversary of his petirah on 3 Cheshvan.

Because the proposed conference dates fall close to the upcoming election, however, the attorney general directed that the event be postponed until after the election, citing concerns that holding it beforehand could violate election-campaign laws.

Shas initially turned to Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and asked him to overturn the attorney general’s directive.

Sohlberg ruled that he did not have the authority to review or overturn the attorney general’s instruction.

At the same time, Sohlberg emphasized that he was not ruling on whether the attorney general’s decision was justified on its merits. He further clarified that the parties could present their arguments through the appropriate legal proceedings.

As a result, the attorney general’s directive remained in effect.

Shas has now moved the battle to the High Court, where it is challenging the decision and arguing that the state-sponsored gathering commemorating Rav Ovadia should not be subjected to different standards from other memorial events.