(My emphases - M.A.C.)
I will emphasize that in the case before me, we are not dealing with asylum seekers, but I am of the opinion that it is appropriate to derive a similar decree, and even more lenient, from the existing case law regarding the Authority's refusal to treat adults who need its services for a long time. In this case, too, the Authority did not deal with the children's affairs at an early stage, at the latest when they entered the public education system. The PA also did not deal with their case after their arrest, and refrained from examining their best interests for about four years since. Throughout this period, the children are under a constant cloud of deportation. In this case, the children remain in a normative fog not only regarding their rights, but also with regard to the very fact of receiving status in Israel, while the PA, for years, has refrained from deciding on their humanitarian request (regarding the consequences of leaving the children in a normative fog, see State Comptroller's Report 63C of 2013, "Treatment of Stateless Minors in Israel," p. 1872 (2013); Research report by HaMoked, "The Status of Children of Asylum Seekers in Israel and Worldwide" (written and researched by Sigal Rosen, Shira Abo and Stav Pas-Hai, June 2022) and Yosef Barda, Yaffa Zilbershatz, Zehavit Gross, "Children of Foreigners in Israel - A Clash of Ideological Approaches in the Absence of an Orderly Immigration Policy," 663, Yaakov Ne'eman Book (Aharon Barak and David Gliksberg eds., 2023).
- Despite the differences between the cases, we can learn from the solution in the Tegal case to the case before me. Against the background of the failure to decide asylum applications for many years, and leaving the asylum seekers in a normative fog, twenty-four Sudanese citizens of the Darfur region filed the petition in the Tegal case (among the remedies was the granting of an A/5 license as a recognized refugee, to all Darfur nationals. President Hayut noted (in paragraph 24 of her judgment) similar to the conduct of the Authority with regard to examining the best interests of the children in the case before me, that:
"Not only has no orderly policy been established regarding the handling of asylum applications and has been pending for many years, the few decisions made with regard to asylum seekers create a sense of randomness and arbitrariness that deepens the sense of frustration and harm caused by the 'procrastination' in the case of Darfur immigrants who did not receive status on humanitarian grounds, and are still waiting for a decision on their requests."