The thin edge of the wedge?

On Wednesday (31 August) the Israeli High Court temporarily blocked preparations for Israel to share data with the IRS under Israel’s FATCA IGA. (Article in Haaretz)(pdf)  This is a temporary injunction, with a court date of 15 September for arguments to be heard against the Israeli FATCA IGA. The plaintiffs in the case argued that FATCA violated their rights to privacy and equal treatment and that there was no compelling public purpose to the law. Similar lawsuits against FATCA have been filed in Canada and the US.

There has been some interesting discussion of this court ruling over at Isaac Brock and on the American Expatriates Facebook Group. Of course, the big question is whether this will cause other countries to re-think their position on FATCA.

While this is only a temporary order, it is refreshing to hear of a court that is willing to actually listen to the case of US expats whose human rights have been violated by the US extraterritorial overreach that is FATCA.

Could this be the thin edge of the wedge that causes world governments to stand up for the rights of their own citizens rather than capitulating to US bullying?