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My Behind-Scene-Messages to the READERS,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
June 26, 2008 (08:00)
JIWON: Ho! It was not a normal sex-scandal. I used to think that the inside story was “when a girl met a boy,” and the Media destroyed it. It was not. Hum… I am amazed at finding the way Dorit Beinisch earned her enemies. To be honest, I want to see Beinisch family suffers in the exact way my story destroyed my family. No less, no more. Pretty sure that this sickish family will be busier behind scenes. Then, is Daniel Barenboim now literally sleeping under Meier’s cleavage? I’ve been suspecting the entire scene since the moment Bibi was excluded from Beinisch’s concern. Then, Bibi is also busier in other places. Hum…
June 26, 2008 (13:00)
The Gavison Solution Apr 20, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
JIWON: No intention to support PM Olmert. I just couldn’t understand the reason of Meretz MK Gal-On. Nor could I understand why Israeli prime minister should resign after the war, which most outsiders don’t consider as a war. Did American ask their president to resign after Afghanistan or Iraq war? How many soldiers died during the war and even now? I just can’t understand. Then, I remember that this name, Gavison, was one of hot potatoes while searching for articles about Dorit Beinisch. Hum… Anyway, I just realized that the most sickish journalist of the Haaretz also wrote the most sickish article on Ramon’s sex-scandal. I’m now very interested in his private life.
My Official Mail to Knesset
June 27, 2008 (21:00)
JIWON: I finished one collection. It will take time to edit this part with the present editing tool. I must say… You Jews Deserved the Gas Chamber. The real problem was not Basic Law. It was rather… Since I collected all the possible articles in chronological order, you will figure it out. What I feel funny about DM Barak is that he was the one who pleaded with public to solve this problem, then he played the trick behind scenes… just funny.
“Israel can be proud of an independent and professional system,” said Beinisch, adding that she constantly received praise from colleagues abroad about Israel’s judicial system.
JIWON: Don’t you think she should check it by herself? Now that I am about to ask all over the world, especially the governmental officers, to read my collection about… I’ve hardly read a dirtier story than this one. Very similar to my story…
June 28, 2008 (10:40)
(…)
JIWON: For the entire text of this mail, please go to Mail-Recipients in my Music-blog to find Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
C-O-L-L-E-C-T-I-O-N S-T-A-R-T-S…
JIWON: I find that Dorit Beinisch’s involvement in Nili Cohen Affair was perhaps in 2004 and there are so many articles written before and during that period, but it’s too tired to find all of them and re-organize this collection. Hence, I will start another section, Beinisch Politics has nothing to do with LAW, with this article, Secret Society December 21, 2006 / By Yuval Yoaz
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JIWON: This is part of my previous mail on May 15, Dear Berlin Mayor and President of Supreme Court of Israel.
http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/633/ (Sep 12, 2003) Yechezkel Beinisch, A citizen above suspicion: Attorney General Rubinstein, who, like Arbel, requires Justice Beinisch’s support if he is to realize his dream of a seat on the Supreme Court, showed himself equally reluctant to investigate her husband.
http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/633/ (Sep 12, 2003) Yechezkel Beinisch, A citizen above suspicion: (…) Poraz’s sudden decision to dismiss Bogat from his post … Despite the fact that Bogat is known to have very good media connections, no mainstream media outlet picked up the connection… The refusal of State Attorney Arbel and Attorney General Rubinstein to investigate Yechezkel Beinisch’s handling of the finances of the Jerusalem Symphony or his alleged threats to have Attorney Michal Rosenbaum dismissed from her job was not the last of their assistance to him. Beinisch brought a libel suit against the Broadcast Authority. In this case, however, the Broadcast Authority was forced to hire a private attorney after receiving the cold shoulder from State Attorney Edna Arbel. Only when the Broadcast Authority filed its answer, did the State Attorneys office attempt to intervene and force a withdrawal of the answer, which contained many damaging allegations about Yechezkel Beinisch. Again, this unusual behavior of the State Attorneys office elicited no curiosity in Yediot Aharanot, Haaretz, or the broadcast media…
http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/633/ (Sep 12, 2003) Yechezkel Beinisch, A citizen above suspicion: Equally curious was the intervention of The Movement for Quality in Government on behalf of Yechezkel Beinisch… At least one investigative journalist noted an apparent conflict of interest between The Movement for Quality Government’s service on behalf of Yechezkel Beinisch and the fact that Beinisch’s wife is presently a member of the panel… Yitzchak (Maariv) wrote to the President of the Court pointing out the problem… For his efforts, Yitzchak received a thinly veiled warning from Justice Beinisch. She accused him of attempting to improperly influence judicial proceedings, and for good measure added that his letter to the Court President might constitute a criminal violation…
Israeli Justice Recuses Himself (May 12, 2005) Yitzchak revealed that the daughter of the next Court President, Justice Dorit Beinisch, was given a position in the State Prosecutor’s office in violation of civil service regulations. That appointment was pushed ahead by former State Prosecutor Edna Arbel, whose own successful candidacy for the Court was pushed by her good friend Dorit Beinisch. One hand washes the other. In her new position, the younger Beinisch will regularly be appearing before the Supreme Court of which her mother is a member and future leader.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinui On 10 January 2005… However, the Shinui-party continued to support the disengagement and FM Netanyahu’s financial reforms. Poraz affair and party split…
In case you need more reasons to dislike Bibi… (Nov 24, 2004) And to forestall any accusation that I’m not an equal-opportunity critic, that sort of rhetoric doesn’t sound any better when it comes from Avraham Poraz.
JIWON: This article is now “Forbidden: You don’t have permission to access /archives/026874.html on this server.”
http://www.dofeed.co.il/search.asp?site=327 (Aug 31, 2007) the fates of the government of Israel and its prime minister will be in the hands of three members of the High Court of Justice: President Dorit Beinisch… They will discuss two petitions, submitted by the IDF judge advocate general and former MK Avraham Poraz, asking the court to require the Winograd Committee…
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Ramon: Ramon was appointed Minister of Justice on 4 May 2006… On July 27, 2006, A-G Mazuz instructed the Justice Minister to refrain from making executive decisions relating to law enforcement, including the appointment of judges and the granting of amnesty, while under a sexual harassment investigation… The Movement for Quality Government called on Ramon to step down, and he announced his resignation on 18 August. (The indictment came two days after Tzachi Hanegbi, another former Justice Minister, was also indicted by Mazuz (for fraud, bribery and perjury)… Ramon was reappointed to the cabinet in July 2007 as Vice Premier and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for state policy…
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Judge and Jewry: Israel, like a cheap version of us…
Dec 01, 2005 / By American Jew
Israel, whose corrupt, disappointing democracy American Jews endlessly tout without much critical examination, has, with the exception of a few bright stars, a judicial class of hacks and mediocrities led by an extreme anti-Democratic, I-know-better-than-the-many-headed, Leftist, Aharon Barak. Barak, President of the Supreme Court – and a law school professor of mine – is often referred to as “brilliant” but it appears to me that he is brilliant in the sense of a clever polemicist or a wily politician, not a wise judge and certainly not as he refers to himself (I myself heard him do it in class as an excuse for a particularly offensive power grab in one of his decisions): a “Founding Father” of a democracy. (…)
What I found fascinating (and somewhat nauseating) in law school was Israel’s liberal misuse of American constitutional jurisprudence.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Immoral Enemies
Dec 1, 2005 / By Jonathan Rosenblum (Mishpacha Magazine)
“Immoral enemies make stupid mistakes,” old-time labor organizier Saul Alinsky used to say. The November 13 speech by Aharon Barak, President of the Israeli Supreme Court, outlining his reasons for opposing the appointment of Professor Ruth Gavison to the Supreme Court is a prime example of Alinsky’s adage.
(…) The tenor of Barak’s arguments can best be gauged by his off-hand remark that he considers Gavison a friend. Were he to approve her elevation to the Supreme Court, he suggested, he might be accused of “cronyism.” That is rich considering that Israel’s unique method of judicial selection, in which the three sitting Supreme Court justices on the nine-person judicial selection committee vote as a bloc, has been characterized by Knesset Law Committee Chairman Miki Eitan as “a friend brings a friend.”
That was the case when Justice Barak overcame the initial objections of some of his Supreme Court colleagues to the appointment of Dorit Beinisch to the Supreme Court. And it was similarly the case when Beinisch pushed through the appointment of her dear friend and successor as State Attorney Edna Arbel, even though Arbel was charged with a multitude of ethical violations that, if proven, would have prevented her from being appointed dog-catcher.
(…) After Barak’s slated retirement next year, Gavison would likely emerge as the most formidable thinker on the Court, and she might well attract to her banner a number of the more technocratic justices. To perpetuate judicial rule of “the enlightened public,” whose values he has made the guiding star for Israeli judges, Barak has no choice but to oppose Gavison — no matter how high the price
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Judicial power grab
May 18, 2006 / By Evelyn Gordon
Sunday’s High Court of Justice ruling on the amended Citizenship Law mandates urgent action by the government. The critical task is not drafting new immigration legislation, though this, too, is necessary, since the current law expires on June 30, and the court clearly indicated that it would not approve a lengthy further extension. Rather, it is reforming the judicial selection process – because without this, the government will be unable to enact any immigration legislation.
(…) Yet on what grounds could the court approve such harsh restrictions on a “right” that it has already declared trumps competing considerations such as security? Justice Minister Haim Ramon’s proposed solution is to enact the reform not as ordinary legislation, but as a Basic Law.
(…) YET NOW, Barak has declared that the court is even authorized to overrule the “constitution”!
Given all this, it is clear that neither immigration restrictions nor any other policy disliked by the justices has any chance of being upheld by the current court. However, the government currently has a rare chance to significantly alter the court’s composition: Four of its 14 seats are now vacant, and a fifth will open shortly, when Barak retires. That is enough to create a solid majority that would uphold immigration reform, and even a sizable bloc that would favor less judicial intervention in policy in general.
However, this is possible only if the judicial selection process is radically overhauled – because today, the justices essentially select their own replacements, so any new appointees will almost certainly share the current majority’s views.
Currently, new justices are chosen by a nine-member panel consisting of (…) The result is that never has a new justice been chosen over the sitting justices’ objections, and only rarely have the justices’ candidates been rejected.
Moreover, both Barak and his designated successor, Dorit Beinisch, belong to the court’s radical wing: Both voted to overturn the existing Citizenship Law; both hold extremely expansive views of the court’s right to overturn government policy in general; and both openly oppose the appointment of anyone who believes that the court should show more deference to the elected government. A selection panel dominated by either one is therefore certain to appoint justices with similarly radical views.
THUS IF the government is to have any hope of enacting immigration reform – or any other policy frowned on by the current justices – it must reform Israel’s judicial selection process to bring it into line with those of other Western democracies.
In other democracies, the appointment of justices is left entirely to the executive and legislature; the justices themselves have no say in the matter. And this is essential to maintain a proper balance between the three branches of government. Otherwise, the enormous power that the court derives from being the ultimate arbiter of legality, combined with the justices’ complete independence once appointed (since they receive lifetime tenure, they need not curry favor to retain their positions), would leave the elected branches powerless against the justices’ whims.
That is precisely the situation in Israel today: When the court denies the elected government the ability to set policy on an issue as fundamental as immigration – based on a self-created “right” anchored in no law whatsoever – the balance of power is clearly grossly skewed in the court’s favor.
But only by radically reforming the judicial selection system can this imbalance ever be corrected.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Comment: Take the wheel, Mr. PM
May 28, 2006 / By Anshel Pfeffer
The same goes for Justice Minister Haim Ramon’s dilemma: whether to stick to the seniority system in choosing a president for the Supreme Court, or to depart from tradition and seek an alternative to Dorit Beinisch. A decision of this magnitude should be taken by the prime minister, and not just behind the scenes.
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Case of Haim Ramon – Justice Minister (Jerusalem, Israel)
From Jul 25, 2006 to Dec 4, 2006
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‘Beinish will be next chief justice’
Aug 24, 2006 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) But Sheetrit made it clear that even if he was by then the full time Justice Minister, he would immediately and gladly give back the portfolio to Ramon the moment Ramon could rejoin the cabinet.
Sheetrit said he supported Ramon’s plans to distribute more civil cases to private lawyers to speed up the law enforcement process. “I did not talk about privatization, but I was the one who started it,” he said. “I think that we have to widen this opening, not to make it into a total thing but mainly to help the legal system and the state prosecution. I can’t live with a situation in which the legal process takes an average of five years. It is inconceivable as far as I am concerned, and causes great harm to the system of justice.”
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Trials and tribulations
Aug 26, 2006 / By Dan Izenberg
Former Justice Minister Haim Ramon had no choice this week but to resign from the cabinet voluntarily and waive his parliamentary immunity.
Even if he had wanted to, he could not have remained in the cabinet once Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decided to indict him. In the case of former Shas leader Aryeh Deri, the High Court of Justice established a judicial law whereby a minister may not remain in office after he has been indicted, even though his guilt has not yet been established.
(…) During the interim, on September 14, Supreme Court President Aharon Barak was due to retire and his replacement had to be chosen before then. The only person authorized to convene the Judges’ Selection Committee is the Minister of Justice. Last week, the government gazette announced that the committee would meet on September 7 to elect a new president and that the sole candidate for the job was Justice Dorit Beinisch. Unlike other announcements regarding the convening of the committee, which are always signed by the Minister of Justice, Ramon did not sign this one.
Had he remained in office, it is not clear that the meeting would or could have taken place. (…)
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Man plans, God laughs
Sep 1, 2006 / By Anshel Pfeffer
(…) This summer provided a reminder of how quickly the national agenda can be totally reshaped; how fickle even the best-laid plans can be; and how easily journalists’ predictions can be confounded.
Just look at where we were only two months ago. (…) to show that the new government was serious about its plans to continue unilaterally withdrawing from parts of the Land of Israel.
Other major reforms were in the pipeline. Justice Minister Haim Ramon entered his new office bullishly, issuing veiled threats of doing away with the seniority system in the Supreme Court, thereby jeopardizing Dorit Beinisch’s sure-fire chance to become chief justice and opening up the selection process to public scrutiny. Another reform, more in the background, but also directly connected to Ramon, was a radical change to the electoral system which, among other things, would make the prime minister less reliant on the Knesset and create a presidential-style government.
Aside from Ramon, another supporter of the plan was President Moshe Katsav.
(…) Further to the right, the settlers were planning the first anniversary of disengagement, (…) Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured in a Hamas raid on a military outpost at Kerem Shalom. Three days later, the IDF was again operating in the Gaza Strip. At this point, the government’s stalwarts still thought that nothing had yet changed significantly. At a seminar in Tel Aviv, Ramon said that what was happening was only proof of how important it had been to remove the settlements from Gaza and of the necessity of further such steps.
But two weeks later, the war in Lebanon began and put an end to all that. (…) Furthermore, Netanyahu’s leadership doesn’t seem so shaky anymore. Suddenly he’s topping polls for prime minister, yet another spanner thrown into plans that were made before the summer began.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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The Beinisch court
Sep 9, 2006
Dorit Beinisch was approved last Thursday as the new Supreme Court president and will be sworn in this coming Thursday, the day her predecessor Aharon Barak steps down.
Beinisch and Barak go back a long way. (…) Barak had been her mentor ever since. Without Barak, Beinisch would have never been appointed to the Supreme Court. The first time her appointment was mooted – in 1993 – it was foiled by then Chief Justice Meir Shamgar and was likewise vehemently opposed by then-premier Yitzhak Rabin, whom Beinisch incensed on more than one occasion as state prosecutor, most conspicuously when Rabin exiled 415 Hamas activists to Lebanon in 1993.
When Barak succeeded Shamgar he vowed to appoint Beinisch to the Supreme Court, which he did in 1995. He not only handpicked her but he knew that by virtue of the seniority tradition, she would succeed him as chief justice. (…)
During her stint on the court, her positions nearly always mirrored Barak’s line. Among the very few exceptions, she opposed parole for Yoram Shkolnik, convicted of murdering a captured terrorist, and unlike Barak she opposed allowing Baruch Marzel to run for the 16th Knesset. (…)
She was also more obstructionist than Barak about admitting new members into the court. Like him, she opposed Ruth Gavison, but, unlike Barak, also vetoed another equally-esteemed law professor, Nili Cohen. Conversely, Beinisch was the most enthusiastic advocate for appointing her friend and successor as state-prosecutor Edna Arbel to the court.
(…) Yet the court also has a reputation of being aloof, overly activist and, to some minds, skewed toward one side of the political spectrum. A recent opinion poll showed that 64% of the public suspect political motivations behind Supreme Court appointments and that only 33% consider Beinisch deserving of her promotion to chief justice. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Katsav allegations include wiretapping
Sep 14, 2006 / By Sheera Claire Frenkel
(…) The most vocal criticism came from Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) and Shelly Yacimovich (Labor), who have championed Katsav’s accusers for the past several weeks. Yacimovich has made waves in recent weeks by meeting with “A” and announcing that she believed that Katsav was guilty of rape. (…)
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How Dorit Beinisch might secure Aharon Barak’s legacy
Sep 15, 2006 / By Anshel Pfeffer
(…) New President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinisch has reached as far as she has thanks to her mentor Barak; he handpicked her for his court almost as soon as he was appointed president, in the clear knowledge that by dint of the seniority system she would eventually succeed him in the top job.
Yet there was no certainty that she would get the job. Former justice minister Haim Ramon was an opponent of seniority and was planning to place at least a few obstacles in Beinisch’s way. His forced resignation last month, following the attorney-general’s decision to press charges against him over an accusation of sexual harassment, made way for replacement Meir Sheetrit, who immediately affirmed Beinisch’s appointment.
Dark mutterings can already be heard from Ramon’s camp as to the real motive behind the decision to push a less than watertight case against him. If he is exonerated and restored to his post, Beinisch will have an implacable foe.
But whatever the outcome of the Ramon case, Beinisch already has no shortage of potential enemies.
Barak might have been an undisputed legal giant but he was also the most unpopular Supreme Court president in history. (…)
Beinisch was his resolute partner in many of these rulings and even before that, in two and a half decades as state attorney, time and again she took on the government, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency). As state attorney in 1993, she refused to defend the government in the Supreme Court over the mass expulsion of Hamas members to Lebanon.
(…) But despite sharing Barak’s beliefs, she doesn’t enjoy anything close to the prestige and respect he commanded, from friends and critics alike. (…) Beinisch will have very little backing when she embarks on her next crusade; there is little love lost between her and most of the politicians who see her as encroaching on their authority, and she is far from universally popular even within the legal world. (…) Many are waiting for her to fall.
And things could get even worse for Beinisch. Opinion polls are of course notoriously fickle but if elections were to be held today, a coalition consisting of Likud, Israel Beiteinu, the National Union-National Religious Party and the haredi parties would have a handy majority. None of these parties are fans of an activist, interventionist Supreme Court, and many of their leaders are ardent supporters of legal reform, bolstering the supremacy of the elected parliament and government over the judiciary. Beinisch’s legacy might be a drastically weakened court.
Yet she’s an experienced operator and probably realizes that she may have to chart a careful course through what may soon be stormy waters. A possible indication of her future direction was her willingness this year to act as chairperson of the Central Elections Commission and the conciliatory fashion in which she carried out her duties there. Whether that was a just a tactic to smooth her ascent to the top or a more long-range policy remains to be seen.
Beinisch’s next hurdle is the appointment of four new justices to the court. Technically Beinisch has only one vote on the appointments committee but the court president usually gets his, or her, way. Whether she puts her weight behind activist justices in Barak’s mold, or prefers candidates from outside, will be a key decision with implications for her entire term. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Another Tack: Friends in deed
Sep 21, 2006 / By Sarah Honig
Consider the merciless vetting to which candidates for the US Supreme Court are subjected. (…) Not so in Israel.
(…) For openers, there are no transparent hearings to scrutinize candidates to one of the most powerful positions in the land, particularly in view of how ultra-interventionist our court is. This court, a law unto itself, also replicates itself. “A friend brings a friend” in the worst of Israel’s tradition of unabashed cronyism.
(…) Exactly 11 years ago, on September 22, 1995 – only weeks before the assassination – Israel state television titillated its viewers with particularly eerie footage shot in the wee hours in a deserted graveyard. (…) The camera, as we’re often told, never lies.
(…) Beinisch pled ignorance. She maintained she “never permitted” Raviv to “incriminate innocent persons.” We have to take her word for it, because we’ll never know for sure.
WE’LL NEVER know if different tactics were sanctioned for communities, as distinct from individuals, if the prosecution merely approved defaming an entire segment of public opinion. The case against Raviv for libel and his macabre midnight pageant was closed – for “lack of public interest”- by Beinisch’s best friend and successor as state attorney Edna Arbel.
During Arbel’s state attorney tenure, a case against Beinisch’s husband, Yehezkel, for defrauding the income tax authorities was also closed. Beinisch blamed Yehezkel’s legal travails on “political antagonists” who’d stop at nothing to get at her. Again we may never know, because the tax charges were dropped.
TO BE SURE Yehezkel is still the subject of financial and felony investigations, which the prosecution is incredibly loath to pursue and apparently very eager to forget about. Nonetheless, formally at least, some allegations still hang over Yehezkel’s head, a circumstance which would have made his wife’s promotion to head the highest court in the land unlikely elsewhere – in Washington, for instance.
But here, as we noted, a friend brings a friend. And so, Beinisch made sure Arbel joined her on the Supreme Court. No feminist zeal was involved. Beinisch stopped at nothing to thwart the candidacies of two of the country’s most esteemed law professors: Ruth Gavison and Nili Cohen.
In true oligarchies nothing is left to chance.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Analysis: Battle of the spin doctors
Sep 29, 2006 / By Anshel Pfeffer
(…) But the investigation into President Moshe Katsav has broken all previous rules. In addition to the police leaking like a sieve and Katsav’s formidable media team that includes a number of veteran reporters beholden to him, this has become now a three-way media battle. Not only are Katsav and the police trying to manipulate the press, each to its own interests, but also “A.,” the first and main woman to have come forward with charges of sexual assault, has her own corner fighting her battle in the PR war. A’s cause is being championed by a professional PR adviser, quite a few politicians and journalists with agendas or axes to grind, and an extremely media-savvy attorney. And as of this Tuesday, A. herself entered the fray with a first interview on Army Radio.
(…) The behind the scenes story will probably be never told in full, but the series of leaks in previous weeks, from all sides, did a lot (…) promoting different versions of the events.
And we haven’t even mentioned at least two crossovers here between legal proceedings, journalism and politics. The first took place when former broadcaster and now Labor MK Shelly Yacimovich met A. and subsequently took up her case, while another occurred when Maariv reported that Katsav had blamed figures close to Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu for being involved in the accusations against him. That report was subsequently denied by Katsav but affirmed by his brother and spokesman-in-chief Lior. And then there was the rigamarole over whether Katsav would officiate at the swearing-in of new Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch, which enabled a whole row of MKs to grandstand over the issue.
There are indeed political implications to this case. Not long ago, Katsav was seen as serious candidate for the Likud leadership, (…)
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Exclusive: Rubinstein slams Ramon trial
Nov 6, 2006 / By Haviv Rettig
The ongoing trial of former justice minister Haim Ramon for alleged sexual misconduct is an example of blatant and systematic “abuse of authority” by the State Attorney’s Office that calls into question the very trustworthiness of Israel’s legal system, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya president Amnon Rubinstein told.
(…) The final result, Rubinstein said, was the “expulsion of an Israeli justice minister. And,” he added, “it’s the second time. The first was [Yaakov] Neeman.”
(…) “People are too frightened to even speak about this,” he said. “Over the past 20 years, every single prime minister has been the target of investigation… and despite all the noise from the State Attorney’s Office, there wasn’t a single conviction. You call in all these prime ministers for investigation, and the investigation is publicized all over the world, and there are no [time] limits to these investigations.”
(…) “We need a special prosecutor, as in the United States. When you can’t trust the system, you have to bring someone in from the outside. The government should establish this specially for this case,” he said.
Rubinstein’s third recommendation is for the “establishment of a committee of legal experts to reexamine the entire judicial system.” Many problematic aspects of the system had to be reviewed, such as “an attorney-general who is [also] the prosecutor-general, the legal adviser to the government, oversees the State Attorney’s Office and gives instructions to the police.”
While he believes Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz is an “honest and wise” man, the nature of his office “has to be examined.”
(…) “We were always proud of our judicial system. In the past few years, however, I’m not proud of it.”
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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PM to set up commission on Ramon investigation
Nov 30, 2006
Ramon’s case – that of the alleged sexual harassment of a female soldier who worked in the Prime Minister’s Office – has been fraught with suspicious police activity, such as illegal wiretapping and information that was supposedly missing from the former minister’s trial.
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Mazuz on Ramon: Sexual harassment was overlooked
Dec 4, 2006 / By Aviram Zino
Defending his decision to indict former justice minister, attorney general says Israeli society used to be ‘chauvinistic,’ encouraged women to ‘stay home’ and remain silent.
(…) Mazuz also responded to criticism of wiretapping regulations in Israel. “Every system has its shortcomings and failures, were are checking and drawing lessons,” he admitted.
Mazuz also slammed legislators for waging a campaign to limit the rights of law enforcement authorities to wiretap, saying their decision to set up a parliamentary committee to review wiretapping regulations is vague since it fails to mention which law enforcement body should be reprimanded for misusing the procedure.
TALKBACKS 1
2. Doesn’t mean Ramon must be a scapegoat
I agree that the society in Israel is chauvinistic. This doesn’t mean, however, that one must harrass a senior Minister for a kiss. Legally, there was no case against Ramon, and if attrorney general doesn’t understand this, he should probably go home.
Inyaki , Bilbao (12.04.06)
4. It’s like Ali G speak’s – but not A-G…
Bob , Aretz (12.04.06)
5. BLATANT HYPOCRISY!!!
The same Mazuz DEFENDS president Katzav…. Why? Because they are friends…. Give us a break , Mazuz, you hypocritical bastard…
Edan , Israel (12.04.06)
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Bar-On won’t accept Justice portfolio
Feb 4, 2007 / By Gil Hoffman
(…) Sources close to Bar-On said the decision was not made out of fear of a probe against him, as there has been against previous justice ministers.
They said Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz had said there was no problem with Bar-On receiving the post after he was cleared of charges in the 1997 Bar-On/Hebron scandal.
At the time, then-prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was accused of being pressured by Shas to appoint Bar-On justice minister ahead of Shas leader Aryeh Deri’s trial on corruption charges, in exchange for Shas’s support of Netanyahu’s agreement to withdraw from parts of Hebron.
(…) Outsiders reportedly being considered to replace Haim Ramon as justice minister include former education minister Amnon Rubinstein, attorney Ram Kaspi and the former head of the Courts Authority, Boaz Okun. Okun stepped down from that position a few months ago following a fight with Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch. (…)
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Analysis: The Anti-Beinisch club
Feb 6, 2007 / By Anshel Pfeffer
(…) Roni Bar-On knew what he was doing on Sunday evening when he notified Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he was taking himself out of the running for the job. He already learned the hard way, 10 years ago, when the uproar caused by his appointment as attorney-general, a lawyer with political connections and a quintessential outsider, forced him to relinquish the post after two days. Rather than go up once more against the vindictive system, he preferred to stay at the Interior Ministry.
(…) The most senior of the prospective candidates is former education (and telecommunications and energy) minister, president of the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center and founder of the Tel Aviv University Law School, Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, and you don’t get more establishment than that. But Rubinstein recently has emerged as one of the legal system’s most bitter critics.
Only two weeks ago at the Herzliya Conference, he attacked Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz for considering limiting Olmert’s powers due to the investigations against him, warning against the “rule of the unelected officials.”
This wasn’t the first time Rubinstein had launched such attacks. He was also critical of Mazuz’s decision to press charges against Ramon, and last year he suggested that upon Barak’s retirement, former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar should be called back into service for two years, to allow the judiciary to recover. Though he did not mention her by name, this was a clear expression of no-confidence in Barak’s successor, Beinisch.
Another critic of Beinisch being considered for the job is Prof. Daniel Friedman. Like Rubinstein, he is also a former dean of Tel Aviv University Law School and an Israel Prize laureate. Beinisch earned his enmity in 2003 when she organized a crusade against the appointment to the Supreme Court of Friedman’s close friend and colleague, Prof. Nili Cohen. (…) The third candidate, Boaz Okon, also became an implacable enemy of Beinisch’s after she blocked Cohen’s appointment, his mentor at law school. Okon was the wunderkind of the judiciary, (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 2: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Analysis: The politicians fight back
Feb 7, 2007 / By Anshel Pfeffer
(…) Only a few years ago, calls to curtail the power of the Supreme Court came exclusively from the religious and right-wing parties. The approval on Tuesday from all sides of the political spectrum for Prof. Daniel Friedman’s appointment promises that he will have little trouble securing parliamentary backing for drastic reforms.
It took the indictment and conviction of one of their own, Haim Ramon, to push most of the MKs into the anti-Supreme Court camp, and there is now a clear majority for adjusting the balance of powers.
(…) Not that Friedman believes that it’s especially high right now. He has been quite open in the past about his opinion of Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, whom he considers a legal lightweight and a vindictive, power-hungry individual.
Friedman, though, has another, less well-known agenda. He might be a fierce critic of the Supreme Court, but in other ways, he is a classical liberal lefty. The religious politicians who are crowing this week over his selection might find they got more than they bargained for, when he announces plans for more constitutional legislation.
Five months after her appointment, Beinisch is having to pay for the excesses of her predecessor. Aharon Barak, in his 11 years at the head of the court, led the heavy-handed activist line that so infuriated the politicians. Barak, the secular saint, beloved of the liberal classes and the media, could get away with it. Beinisch, though, is about to discover the limits of her power.
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Israel Matzav: Has the Branja lost control of the Supreme …
Feb 7, 2007 / By Orthodox Jew
I have written nasty posts about the Israeli Supreme Court and its selection process enough times that no one is going to nominate me to be the Justice Minister. The problem is that the court is controlled by the Branja, (…) Yesterday, Ramon’s replacement was announced, and he has sent the Branja scurrying for cover in shock. The replacement is Tel Aviv University law professor Daniel Friedman
(…) MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz) objected to the appointment. (…) Beilin insisted. [Of course, Beilin had no problem with the judicial system protecting Ariel Sharon from indictment long enough to carry out the surrender of Gaza to the 'Palestinians' and the forced expulsion of its Jews. CiJ] (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 2: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Friedmann set to meet rival Beinisch in High Court
Feb 9, 2007 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) Friedmann and Beinisch have not spoken to each other since their public feud in 2003 over the appointment of Prof. Nili Cohen to the Supreme Court.
(…) Friedmann blasted Mazuz, the state prosecution, the police and the court for indicting and convicting Haim Ramon on charges of committing an indecent act against a female soldier in the Prime Minister’s Office in Tel Aviv.
In a related development, Mazuz rejected a complaint by the watchdog organization Ometz against Friedmann. Ometz asked Mazuz to launch a criminal investigation over the Yediot Aharonot article. The organization’s chairman, Aryeh Avneri, accused Friedmann of violating sub judice by trying to influence Tel Aviv District Court into overturning Ramon’s lower court conviction by lashing out at Mazuz and the others.
Mazuz wrote to Avneri that the state was reluctant to prosecute in matters related to freedom of speech, particularly true with regard to sub judice.
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Critical mass
Feb 10, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
(…) In effect, very rarely has a person been appointed minister in Israel whose professional agenda in his field has been so structured and open.
This, then, is what the new justice minister thinks about the law and justice institutions, and this is the professional agenda with which he is coming into the position, in one of the most sensitive and critical periods that the system has ever known: The Supreme Court justices are mediocre, the president of the Supreme Court was not worthy of having been appointed to the position, it is necessary to stop the justices’ exclusive control of the appointment of judges, the Knesset must act…
(…) Friedmann is not the first law professor to uphold a conservative perception of the law whereby the Supreme Court should return to its classical role of resolving disputes between sides and stop its excessive intervention in decisions that are the province of other authorities. In this he is like Professor Ruth Gavison
(…) Friedmann takes up where Grunis left off. “It appears that it is difficult for the High Court of Justice to admit that there is any area that is outside the reach of its intervention,” he wrote. “There are such issues, and the establishment of a state commission of inquiry is one of them.”
(…) The new justice minister thinks that the court that former Supreme Court president Justice Aharon Barak left upon his retirement is “the weakest Supreme Court in the history of the country with the broadest authority ever. The High Court of Justice has often deliberated in expanded benches on issues with which it is doubtful that any other court in the world would deal. The law-enforcement system is divorced from the reality.”
(…) “Israel is on its way to a police state,” he declared. “Members of the government and members of the Knesset are subordinated in effect to the attorney general, who acts under the protection of the courts. This is the anti-democratic revolution that is taking place under the banner of the law.”
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 2: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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The End Of Judicial Tyranny In Israel?
Feb 14, 2007 / By Steven Plaut
It pains me to tell you this, but Ehud Olmert has actually done something right. Possibly the very first correct thing he has done since becoming prime minister. And it is spectacularly correct!
Olmert has appointed Professor Daniel Friedmann as the new minister of justice. And Professor Friedmann is determined to blow the whistle on the long reign of judicial tyranny imposed on Israel by its anti-democratic judges and by advocates of judicial activism.
(…) Just a few weeks back, hopes for reining in judicial tyranny in Israel seemed bleaker than ever. Professor Ruth Gavison had been a contender for appointment to the Israeli Supreme Court. A longtime champion of civil rights, somewhat left of center and secularist, Gavison nevertheless is a ferocious opponent of judicial activism and would have worked against the activist judges on the bench.
That was enough to arouse the Left against her. In a campaign somewhat reminiscent of the malicious jihad in the U.S. against the nomination of Yale Professor Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, the Israeli Left mobilized its shock troops against the Gavison appointment and it was shot down.
Meanwhile, Dorit Beinisch took over as chief justice when her mentor Aharon Barak retired. Beinisch used the occasion of her accession to praise Barak’s judicial activism and promised to conduct more of the same Like Barak, she believes the court is entitled to revoke and cancel laws passed by the Knesset, supposedly as part of “judicial review.” Never mind that there is no constitutional basis in Israel for such judicial review.
The distinguished Robert Bork mentioned above is on record as declaring that Israel’s Supreme Court is the very worst in the democratic world in terms of ignoring checks and balances and in its promotion of judicial activism.
(…) Educated at the Hebrew University and Harvard, Friedmann strongly opposes judicial tyranny and is dead serious about reining it in. He wants to end the system under which the Israeli commission for appointing judges acts as a rubber stamp for candidates supported by the judges already on the Supreme Court. He wants to create a constitutional court that will strip the Supreme Court of its powers of judicial review of laws. He wants to change the system under which the chief justice of the Supreme Court is selected.
In short, he wants to appoint judges who will actually obey the law, an idea quite novel in Israel.
Professor Friedmann was one of those jurists who vehemently opposed the appointment of Beinisch as chief justice, repeatedly declaring his position that she is not competent or qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.
(…) All judges in Israel are appointed by a Judicial Selection Committee, (…) Once a judge is appointed, it is all but impossible to get him or her dismissed. Dismissals can take place when the chief justice leads the campaign against a judge – and not always then.
In reality, the committee usually rubber stamps what the Supreme Court justices, who dominate it, want. Hence, appointment of judges in Israel effectively consists of unelected judges dictating which other unelected judges will sit on the bench.
Under Friedmann’s proposals, the Judicial Selection Committee will be revamped. (…) And the Israeli Left is simply hysterical about that. Israel’s leftist Haaretz has been overflowing with outraged articles opposing Friedmann.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 2: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Behind the Lines: Supreme self-importance
Feb 22, 2007 / By Anshel Pfeffer
The media has room for all kinds of pundits. (…) But it is definitely the latest species of talking-head on our screens who speak with an unassailable self-confidence and are accorded the greatest degree of respect. These are the former Supreme Court justices, descending from their Mounts of Olympus and – as if they never had handed in their robes – delivering absolute judgment on all of us.
Over the last couple of weeks, during the fracas surrounding the appointment of Daniel Friedmann as justice minister and Yaacov Genot as police inspector-general, you could barely turn on your TV or open your newspaper without coming upon one of these luminaries pontificating against the appointments which are about to bring the temple down.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 2: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Yated Ne’eman: Turnabout – a Tale for Adar
Feb 21, 2007 / By Jonathan Rosenblum
Just as Haman’s power over 127 states appeared beyond challenge, so did the reign of the Supreme Court over Israeli public life seem immutable, until just recently. Israel’s anomalous judicial appointments procedure gave the three Supreme Court justices on the judicial appointments committee virtual veto power over any candidate who did not share the views of Court President Aharon Barak and his acolytes on the Court. Thus the Supreme Court was turned not only into a sort of “cult,” in Professor Ruth Gavison’s words, but a “self-perpetuating” one at that.
(…) Any justice minister threatened the hegemony of the Supreme Court, promptly found himself out of a job. When Yaakov Ne’eman, who is both religious and one of Israel’s most respected attorneys, was appointed justice minister, then Attorney-General Michael Ben-Yair (according to journalist Uri Elitzur) told the senior staff in the State Attorneys office that this dog would not be allowed to leave deep scratches on the furniture. A trumped up indictment was promptly produced against Ne’eman. Though he was quickly acquitted, with the trial judge severely censuring the prosecution, Ben-Yair had achieved his purpose: Ne’eman did not return to the justice ministry. His place was taken by Tzachi Hanegbi, who was under criminal investigation his whole term in office, and thus only too eager to do the bidding of Justice Barak, who would likely be sitting on his appeal some day.
Chaim Ramon, who came into office with a mildly reformist agenda, joked at a private dinner, just 12 hours before the events that led to his criminal indictment and conviction, that he better be careful or something was likely to happen to him, as it has to every justice minister who tried to shake up the system. And it did.
NOW BARAK IS RETIRED, five vacancies remain to be filled on the Court, and Professor Daniel Friedmann, one of the Israel’s leading jurists (and an Israel Prize Winner), who has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of just about every aspect of the government legal system, has just been appointed justice minister. Friedmann has made it clear that he will not rubber stamp the justices’ choices for new colleagues, as has been the custom of past justice ministers.
How did this sudden reversal come about? (…) First, there was the retirement of Court President Aharon Barak. His successor Dorit Beinisch may be cut from the same ideological mold, but she lacks Barak’s brilliance, charm, and supreme political skills. She can neither awe nor cajole the press and politicians with anything like Barak’s skill.
But there is another element to the story. In 2004, Barak proposed Professor Nili Cohen for a vacancy on the Court. Justice Beinisch, however, wanted to ensure the appointment to the Court of Edna Arbel, her successor as State Attorney and close friend, and she feared that the appointment of another woman at that point would dim Arbel’s chances. She therefore vehemently opposed Cohen’s appointment, and since the three Supreme Court justices on the appointments committee always vote together, she eventually had her way in keeping Cohen off the Court.
That, however, turned Professor Friedmann, a close friend and colleague of Nili Cohen, into Beinisch’s sworn blood enemy.
(…) Finally, the appointment of Friedmann represents an example of the role of ideas in a democracy. A “democracy” camp consisting of a barely a dozen individuals outside of the Torah community kept hammering away for the past decade at the excesses of the Court. They include Professor Ruth Gavison, who first pointed out that an ideologically unrepresentative Supreme Court has appropriated to itself a degree of control over all normative debate in Israel to a degree unknown anywhere in the world; former Supreme Court President Moshe Landau, who described the Barak Court as 14 Platonic guardians; a handful of brave figures in academia; and lately the Institute for Zionist Strategies. (…)
Over the past ten years, I have written close to forty op-ed pieces on various aspects of the government legal system ?e.g., the Supreme Court and specific decisions of the Court, the judicial appointments process, the incredible non-statutory powers granted the Attorney-General (a position once held by Barak) by the Supreme Court, and proposals for a constitution for Israel. Many times I was asked whether I saw any results from all these pieces. I could never answer affirmatively with any confidence.
But it is clear that the arguments of the “democratic camp,” long tarred as enemies of the rule of law, have finally begun to sink in. Friedmann’s appointment was unanimously approved by the cabinet, and most of the comment, apart from that in Haaretz, was favorable.
When Chaim Ramon was first appointed justice minister, Professor Friedmann published a lengthy piece in Yediot setting forth a recommended agenda for Ramon. That agenda read like a wish list of the “democratic camp,” with a few slaps at Beinisch thrown in for good measure.
(…) No doubt Friedmann as justice minister will not try to advance the entire agenda he advocated as a private citizen, and certainly not in one fell swoop. And the power to enact that agenda is not his alone. But it is clear that he will do enough to make life miserable to all those who have been telling us for years that the rule of the “experts” of the Supreme Court is the best of all possible forms of government.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Turnabout – A Purim Story for Our Time Page 8
Feb 28, 2007 / By Jonathan Rosenblum
(…) Since 2004, Friedmann has filled the op-ed pages with biting criticism of Beinisch and every aspect of the judicial system that produced her.
In a modern-day parallel to Achashveirosh’s selection of Esther as queen, Prime Minister Olmert appointed Friedmann to succeed Chaim Ramon as justice minister. In the eyes of the legal establishment, this appointment is roughly equivalent to choosing Tommy Lapid to head the rabbinical courts. Those who did not want Ramon as justice minister are now confronted with someone far more threatening in his place. (…) Friedmann is, in short, Beinisch’s worst nightmare.
But, why did Prime Minister Olmert, who has never been a critic of the Court’s judicial activism, appoint Friedmann? Olmert is known as a loyal friend. The appointment of Friedmann can be seen as an act of revenge against the legal establishment for ousting Ramon. More to the point, Olmert is currently the subject of half a dozen current or potential criminal investigations and wants to show the legal establishment that he does not lack the means to defend himself. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Beinisch warns of campaign to erode public’s faith in the courts
Mar 14, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
TALKBACKS 2
1. Prespective 18:44 Benlolo 14/03/07 14/03/07
2. What does Mrs Beinish say 19:37 Vladimir 14/03/07
3. King Barak, Queen Beinisch destroying Torah basis of justice 20:08 Yacov 14/03/07
4. Pompous Court 21:00 Yisrael 14/03/07
5. She forgot to tell those refusing post how rich they could become 21:21 Absolute Sweden 14/03/07
6. you eroded the faith yourselves 21:26 Ben Uziel 14/03/07
7. rule of the clerks!!!! 21:29 rebecca 14/03/07
8. The Court has no one but itself to blame 21:55 Chick Corea 14/03/07
9. Funniest article I`ve read in a very long time 22:36 Mosheh Wolfish 14/03/07
10. Absolute Sweden: Barak & 18 houses 22:46 Mosheh Wolfish 14/03/07
11. whose ox? 01:02 KT 15/03/07
12. To:KT 18:05 JfromC 15/03/07
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Beinisch warns of campaign against legal system
Mar 14, 2007 ? By Aviram Zino
(…) Beinisch said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave her his word that the government would not only not cut back on the judicial system’s budget but also increase it.
(…) Many expected the two to clash over Friedmann’s reform agenda and public statements about restraining the power of the courts, but so far matters have been dealt with in a relatively calm manner. Beinisch simply said: “I hope he learns the needs of the system and understands that reforms are for the long run and demands a thorough examination.”
(…) “Israel can be proud of an independent and professional system,” said Beinisch, adding that she constantly received praise from colleagues abroad about Israel’s judicial system.
TALKBACKS 3
1. Maybe the problem is…..
an Israeli Supreme Court that thinks it’s not soley supreme over the other courts of the land rather over all other branches of government as well.
Ben Hur , Manhattan, USA (03.14.07)
3. Critic of the Court
I, too, am a critic of our court system.
One of the fundamental problems is that our courts have a world view of things which is a mismatch for the Jews of this country. Our courts have tried exceedingly hard to steer us away from what is most natural for us – the Torah and the Halacha. They have undermined the centrality of G-d in Israeli life, and have worked against promoting concepts like sanctity, religiousity and holiness. While secular courts in Western/ Christian countries can successfully apply a separation of church and state, such a concept is anti-Jewish since Judaism is an all-encompassing approach to life with seemingly mundane legal matters as integral and integrated in our Talmud and codes as is any other aspect of our relationship with G-d. Basically, the secular court system and particularly the Supreme Court has been hijacked by people who subscribe to the theory that the Shulchan Aruch and the vast literature of a thousand years of Jewish responsa are irrelevant to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. Such arrogance is doomed to failure.
Reuven Brauner , Raanana, Israel (03.14.07)
4. Shouldn’t you guys be glad to have a strong judiciary?
Daniel , United States (03.15.07)
5. #3 – It is your desire for an Israeli theocracy ….
that is doomed to failure.
Andy , ramat hasharon (03.15.07)
6. Judicial greed for power
The Israeli Supreme Court is unfettered by a constitution, and rules by political whim. Naturally the judges are afraid of curtailment of their free-wheeling right to impose their views. The elected government must not back down on its attempt to reign in the Supreme(ly arrogant) Court.
Nathan , Montreal (03.15.07)
8. It’s about time restriction are imposed.
They are out of touch with reality & constantly sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.
Avraham , Netivot (03.15.07)
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Courting debate
Mar 18, 2007
There was bad blood aplenty between Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Prof. Daniel Friedmann even before his appointment as justice minister.
(…) Agree or disagree with Friedmann, the importance of the debate over judicial reform should be clear. The proposals raised, regarding changes in the selection process for judges and the scope of the court’s right to overturn legislation, go to the essence of the balance of power between the branches of government, and therefore to the structure of our democracy.
Such a debate is long overdue. Well before Friedmann became minister, there was widespread unease with the penchant of our court for what is called judicial activism – a willingness to interpret the reach of basic laws so broadly that they grant the courts the right to overturn almost any decision by the elected branches, the executive and the legislature.
It is not always appreciated how exceptional our highest court is among democratic nations in this regard. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Ramon considers returning to politics
Mar 30, 2007 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) The female soldier, who Ramon was ordered to give monetary compensation to, was asked by Channel 10 to react to the court’s ruling. “I decided I will give money to the needy,” she said Thursday. “I didn’t go to court for the money. The message that was conveyed by the case was that it is possible to stand up to someone strong, someone with ability. The money will mean more to them [poor people] than to me.”
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Analysis: A grudge match in the battle for Beinisch’s authority
Apr 17, 2007 / By Anshel Pfeffer
It could have been a landmark case for freedom of information. (…) Instead, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On’s petition asking the High Court of Justice to order the Winograd Committee to release the testimonies of its principal witnesses has turned into a showdown between legal heavyweights over the Supreme Court’s authority, and especially over the prestige of its new president, Dorit Beinisch.
Gal-On shouldn’t be blamed for this outcome. (…) But now it seems to be about something totally different. (…) In this, again, Gavison is a principal combatant.
Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak barely managed to hide his ambition to be appointed chairman of a State Commission of Inquiry into the war; it would have been a fitting crescendo with which to end his decades on the bench.
Olmert’s insistence on setting up a government-appointed committee instead still rankles with Barak’s acolytes on the court, chief among them Beinisch. (…) It’s hard not to get the feeling that the Beinisch court is also eager to show Winograd’s group who’s the boss.
(…) But Beinisch remains the main focus. Just as she is the target of iconoclast Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, who before his recent appointment openly derided her judicial stature, so her low level of prestige is now the main reason the Winograd members feel capable of defying the Supreme Court, even threatening to resign should the justices rule against their wishes.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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The Gavison Solution
Apr 20, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
Were Prof. Ruth Gavison now sitting on one of the padded orange armchairs in the Supreme Court, she would certainly not instruct the Winograd Committee to publish (…) Had Gavison been appointed to the bench some years ago, it is possible that the complainants would never have submitted the petition in the first place, having realized that it did not stand a chance.
Gavison is one of the country’s most eminent jurists of all time. In some areas, such as the philosophy of law, she is outstanding even by international standards.
(…) This week, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz backed Mandel publicly after she was criticized for the state’s representation of the Winograd Committee. (…) Justice Ministry officials are convinced that they are caught between a rock and a hard place, between committee members with militant views who tried to rebel against the High Court’s directives and the court itself.
(…) For Friedmann, the transcripts affair is part of a much wider problem, that of the gradual expansion of the sphere of responsibility of the Suprene Court justices without interference from any other body. In the era of the Agranat or the Kahane commissions, no one would have dreamed of the High Court intervening to tell the committee how to operate and what to take into consideration.
Friedmann’s position, which is close to Gavison’s worldview, marks the battle between the Winograd committee and the High Court of Justice as yet another chapter in the larger battle between the Friedmann and Beinisch camps. In effect, this is the first arena in which this battle has come into the open, while the moves toward legislating the contraction of the High Court’s power and changing the composition of the judicial appointments committee have not yet reached an advanced stage.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Analysis: A partisan press turns on Mazuz
Jul 2, 2007 / By Anshel Pfeffer
If Israeli journalists were perfectly honest, they would admit they have a lot to thank Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz for.
(…) Yes, the press was doing its job; without the reporters’ initiative, Katsav could well have been retiring next week with his reputation intact and the goings-on in the various stations of his career still under wraps. But at an early stage, most of the media, along with the various law and order departments, took a side.
The fact that all the parties involved – the president and his battery of lawyers and media advisers, the police, the attorneys, and even some of the alleged victims with their media- hungry lawyers – had turned the case into a free-for-all public mud-fight didn’t prompt many journalists to pause and take a step backward, distancing themselves from the fray. Most were content to become partisans, including one senior correspondent who even organized a meeting between “A” and Shelly Yacimovich; the MK rewarded him with an exclusive interview.
Ultimately, the media has an easier job than the prosecutors, having to clear a lower threshold of evidence before issuing its verdict through publishing. Doesn’t that also mean journalists should be more careful? How should news organizations act in a case where reporters are convinced of the veracity of charges that might never be heard in a court of law? If the circumstances had been slightly different, these questions might have been debated more seriously following the plea bargain. But Mazuz saved us from that.
(…) Yet there are also those who believe that Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch and her colleagues view Mazuz as a failed champion, and that they might humiliate him in the hope that he will resign and give them a successor made of sterner stuff.
“Of course he should resign,” said a lawyer in the Jerusalem district attorney’s office that was in charge of the investigation, speaking this weekend. Mazuz and his team “haven’t even explained to us why they signed the deal. But then, who resigns in this country?”
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‘Ramon charges worse than Katsav’s’
Jul 17, 2007 / By Dan Izenberg
JIWON:There was internet-comment saying, “Beinisch made the statement during a High Court discussion of petitions against a plea bargain signed by Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz.” Then, the commenter questioned about Beinisch’s real reason. But this article tells me nothing.
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PM: Home front adequately protected
Jul 22, 2007 / By Herb Keinon
The government, and no other public body, will determine the country’s priorities, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting, in a thinly veiled swipe at the Supreme Court.
(…) Olmert came out against this decision over the weekend, and repeated his criticism at the cabinet meeting. “The government, and only the government, is the authority that needs to make decisions on the subject of protecting [Gaza communities],” he said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.
“The government is the one with the authority,” he said. “It is inconceivable that other bodies take it upon themselves to determine the priorities. I will not give up this authority, and my right to express that authority, without it being interpreted as a fight against another body.”
In an obvious reference to press reports Sunday quoting sources close to Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch as saying that this was all part of a campaign Olmert was waging against the courts, Olmert said: “This was not a personal struggle against anyone, and I expect no one else will try to confront us either.”
Olmert, as well as Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter and Vice Premier Haim Ramon, argued that fortifying each classroom near Gaza would be prohibitively expensive, and would take resources away from developing technological responses to the Kassam rockets.
(…) Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, rebuked Olmert for his reaction to the comptroller’s report, which included a frontal attack by his office last week on State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss.
“I suggest that we wake up regarding our relationship with the state comptroller and the Supreme Court,” Barak said. “It is permissible to argue with the comptroller’s report or with the nature of what the court decided and its ramifications, but there should not be accusations against institutions or individuals.”
According to Barak, respectful relations between the executive branch and the judiciary and the State Comptroller’s Office are essential for the health of Israel’s democracy.
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Beinisch: Friedmann ‘sowing strife’ in legal system
August 02, 2007 / By Jonathan Lis and Carmel Ben-Tsur
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch accused Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann yesterday of sowing “disharmony and strife” with his proposed reform of the selection process for court presidents and deputy presidents.
“It is clear that the proposals you are disseminating are another in a series of steps that sow strife and disharmony and are intended to crush the existing structure of the judicial system and demolish the institution of the Supreme Court president,” Beinisch wrote in a letter to Friedmann that she also distributed to the media.
Friedmann had written a letter detailing the proposals, which was publicized over the weekend.
(…) In response, Friedmann’s office said: “We view the Supreme Court president’s letter as unfortunate, as she chose to respond to the justice minister’s consultative letter by issuing a statement to the media. Since the day he took office, Minister Friedmann has worked to strengthen and improve the justice system and increase the public’s faith in it.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that he is “proud of the Supreme Court, headed by President Dorit Beinisch, and see my job as prime minister as protecting it, its independence and its ability to continue being the bastion of democracy and the keeper of its seal.”
Speaking at a graduation ceremony for the National Security College, which took place in Jerusalem, Olmert termed the judicial system “an important element of our national security.” This system is a “flak jacket” that gives the government and the army the moral and legal confidence to defend the citizenry, he said. (…)
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Retired Justices (Barak, Shamgar) Attempt to Heal Friedmann-Beinisch Rift
Aug 7, 2007 / By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(…) Last week, Justice Beinisch sent a harshly worded letter to the Justice Minister in which she attacks him with unprecedented vitriol and accuses him of causing “strife and discord.” The letter, copies of which were sent to representatives of the press, accuses Friedmann of purposely destroying the judicial system’s present structure, undermining Beinish’s own status and creating a situation in which court presidents are dependent on the justice minister.
(…) Justice Minister Friedmann’s official response to Beinisch’s broadside against him was a single sentence, in which he said that ever since he was appointed Justice Minister, he has been “acting to strengthen and improve the judicial system and to increase the public’s faith in it.” The unofficial response, attributed to “sources close to Friedmann” or “Friedmann’s bureau,” was, “We are sorry to read the letter by the Supreme Court President, who chose to answer a topical letter of consultation by the Justice Minister with a press release.”
Last month, Friedmann scored a legislative victory of sorts in his efforts to reform the judicial system when the Knesset approved, in a lopsided 45-0-5 vote, a bill he sponsored that limits the term of office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to seven years. Justice Beinisch and former Justice Barak opposed the bill. The presidents of all other courts in Israel are already bound by term limits.
TALKBACKS 4
3. Justice Min.Friedman -Justice Beinisch
valiant, Ramat Gan (08/08/07)
May I commend Justice Minister Friedman for his stand may he be empowered to make the reform that he has proposed to do and clean up the old codwebs within the Highest Court of Israel …every person organisation parliament under the sun has to be accountable to someoelse that includes Madam Justice. We must progress not be stagnant for stagnat waters smells and brings forth parasites and sickness. Please Retired Judges step back and let this situation take its course there is no shame in any office held by the authority to be transparent to the public no one is exsempt from weakeness and blindness. So let us be courageous and deal with this that anything that is hidden may be revealed and dealt with without fears malice slander anger resentment and power struggle we are in a family! We must function as a family and be fair with all the members involved be of high esteem as well of low !
4. level turf
James, (08/08/07)
easing the field shifting the power, making the courts responsive and not reactive and inactive. when ones power and prestige is threatened they will always fight. but with the light shinning on her perhaps she will give in in time for true change to take place.
5. These people have no dignity.
Tony Trenton, Israel (08/08/07)
They hold offices of critical importance & yet they don’t have the sense to show the dignity of their positions. They act like adolescent kids. They should both be fired immediately as unsuitable people for the positions they hold.
THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
THIS FISH HAS BEEN STINKING FROM THE HEAD FOR TOO LONG!
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Friedmann, Beinisch jointly back legislation on courts’ authority
Aug 15, 2007 By Yuval Yoaz
(…) Several months ago, Beinisch announced that one of her express goals is to establish a legal system that is not subordinate to the Justice Ministry, and conducts its affairs directly with the Knesset. This sentiment has also been expressed by both Barak and Shamgar in the past.
TALKBACKS 5
1. Beinisch politics has nothing to do with the law 19:11 Joseph E . 15/08/07
2. Beinish policies do have to do with the law 20:45 J.M. 15/08/07
3. since when can JUDGES DECIDE ON THEIR OWN POWER in a democracy 21:02 amir 15/08/07
4. To #1 21:42 NI 15/08/07
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Yated Ne’eman: The Tide Turns
August 15, 2007 / By Jonathan Rosenblum
Dorit Beinisch, the current Court President of the Israeli Supreme Court, is proving to be no Aharon Barak in more ways than one. (…) Since the appointment of Tel Aviv University law professor Daniel Friedmann as Justice Minister, Beinisch has found herself embroiled in ongoing and increasingly abrasive public disputes with the justice minister.
(…) Barak’s word was law and none dared question his rulings. Not so Beinisch’s. When leading members of the Winograd Commission, including the Court’s leading academic nemesis, Ruth Gavison, threatened to resign rather than obey a Court order that it immediately publish the testimony it had received, Beinisch blinked and pushed back the date of publication. Even so weak a prime minister as Ehud Olmert did not hesitate to label the Court’s order that it reinforce all Sderot schools to make them Kassam-proof absurd and make noises about refusing to comply.
These dramatic shifts in the legal landscape have not been taken lying down by proponents of the old legal order. Despite the fact that Friedmann comes from academia, and is an Israel Prize laureate in law, a group of law professors have begun circulating a petition criticizing his proposals for revamping the judicial selection process, which today is dominated by the three sitting members of the Supreme Court on the judicial selection panel. Two of the prime movers behind the petition are law professors whom Beinisch has boosted as candidates for the Supreme Court.
BEINISCH’S INABILITY TO RETAIN the vast power that Barak amassed as court president is, in part, a function her lack of comparable reputation as a legal superstar, as well as his immense personal charm. But even had Barak remained in office the tide would have begun to turn from uncritical acceptance of the power wielded by the Israeli Supreme Court ?a power without parallel in any country in the world.
One sign of that reevaluation of Barak’s legacy was the recent publication in the liberal New Republic of a highly critical review of Barak’s A Judge in a Democracy by Richard Posner, himself a dazzling polymath, who serves on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and teaches at the University of Chicago Law School.
(…) It is truly cause for rejoicing that the criticisms of Barak and his legacy are no longer confined to a handful of legal scholars ?e.g., Professor Ruth Gavison and former Court President Moshe Landau — and the religious public, but have now reached as far as liberal journals in America. It is an even greater cause for rejoicing that Barak’s successor lacks his abilities and manipulative skills, and, as a consequence the battle has begun to turn on the ground as well.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 3: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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http://www.dofeed.co.il/search.asp?site=327 (Aug 31, 2007) the fates of the government of Israel and its prime minister will be in the hands of three members of the High Court of Justice: President Dorit Beinisch… They will discuss two petitions, submitted by the IDF judge advocate general and former MK Avraham Poraz, asking the court to require the Winograd Committee…
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Grapevine: Prayers, songs and other festivities
Sep 4, 2007
(…) wedding ceremonies of politicians who are entering into second marriages. (…) Next in line are Haim Ramon and Vered Sharon Rivlin, who have set the date for October 10. When Ramon was charged and subsequently convicted of sexual harassment, Rivlin nonetheless stuck by her man, and will soon be standing with him under a bridal canopy.
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No more questions for PM over Leumi
Oct 11, 2007 / By Etgar Lefkovits
(…) The wedding between Ramon, 58, and Rivlin-Sharon, 41, who have been dating for four years, was conducted by former Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, and attended by President Shimon Peres and some 200 guests.
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Beinish: Human rights weakened because of Friedmann
Nov 4, 2007 / By Aviram Zino
TALKBACKS 6
1. Friedmann just try finish feudalism in Israel
Mike, London (11.04.07)
2. The Court’s job is to interpret the law
It is not to run every aspect of the country, set policy, micromanage the state. This situation in Israel is no different from a dictatorship. The dictator stays in power, unelected and unremovable, while the ministers do the Court’s bidding and the electorate remains powerless. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my disgust is so profound that I must agree with Musharraf’s replacing the Chief Justice…. Not a bad idea.
Jeff, USA (11.04.07)
3. yes it is to harm
and harm is an active action .and do not need passive one but the kenesset low ,when it is rational meanes it is halfe passive
kasseer, jerusalem (11.04.07)
4. No, it’s the other way round
As the court is nominated and not elected, it is clear that Beinish is lying in order to conserve her immense and unjustified power
Andras Bereny bereny@tin.it, Kfar Tapuah, Samaria (11.04.07)
5. Beinish blaming Friedman – again
Best possible news possible to start the week. The better news will be when Beinish goes !
I.Kemp, Nahariya (11.04.07)
6. As a democratic country – IF such a thing exists here -
it’s about time to get rid of the self appointed criminal High Court and institute elections to appoint judges for the High Court.
Joseph P, Jerusalem (11.04.07)
7. If I’m correct, Israel does not have a constitution? That’s
probably why powers are not separated properly nor limited properly. If this is the case, everyone can move the target a little here or there.
*Correct me if I’m wrong, and explain how the court or legislature knows what’s going on if there is no clear reference point.*
Without a constitution, human rights become whatever you make them off to be.
We’ve had our liberal judges do or try that. If a Judge wants to make law, he or she should run for the legislature and get off the bench. Then they will find out how popular their ideas really are.
Stewart, RalphPoochK9@gmail.com USA (11.04.07)
8. P.S. Like New Zealand and Canada, I just found out that …
Israel has no real constitution. New Zealand is one of the biggest pain in the patouts that Isreal has to experience. Canadian liberal are probably in their somewhere. Their judges just don’t understand why our government doesn’t their marijuanna down here. Does Israel really want to follow the examples of New Zealand and Canada? As G. Gordon Lidy so wisely said, “Poor laws make poor decisions.” I doubt Basic Law is a substitute for the real thing.
Stewart, USA (11.04.07)
9. The problem is the Juduciary and not the Minister!
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish just doesn’t get it. The people of this country do not have any confidence in the judiciary! When will our judges get it into their thick heads that we demand justice and not plea bargains. Criminals MUST go to jail. People who kill must be punished with minimum sentences. Allowing lawyers to kill while drunk and to get off scot-free is not acceptable! Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish MUST reform the judiciary for one reason and that is because “We the people say so!” and that is our civil right as the electorate to whom the administration is responsible.
David, Karmiel, Israel (11.04.07)
10. Don’t Be Bullied, Danny.
Reuven Brauner, Raanana, Israel (11.04.07)
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DM Ehud Barak: Public must be involved in determining court’s authority
Nov 11, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the argument between retired Supreme Court president Aharon Barak and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann “must not be solved by arm-twisting, but through a public hearing.”
TALKBACKS 7
1. a court that sets its own jurisdiction is a kangaroo court! 13:43 victor hardman 11/11/07
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Beinisch: Friedmann`s claim that High Court impedes Knesset baseless
Nov 15, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
(…) Friedmann showed his support for Peres, saying that “there are too many unjustified inconsistencies regarding sentencing of similar crimes.”
Friedmann then mentioned his bill to standardize the punishments of different crimes, explaining that “the proposal will improve the level of equality in sentencing. On similar crimes there must be similar punishments. Today, there is no such equality.”
“With the help of the judicial branch we can overcome the wave of crime that has washed over us”.
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New York Times: Friends’ Clash Reflects Battle Over Israeli Court
Nov 22, 2007 / By Isabel Kershner
In recent days, Aharon Barak, the internationally esteemed jurist and retired chief justice of Israel, has broken a self-imposed silence and spoken publicly against an old friend, Daniel Friedmann, Israel’s minister of justice.
(…) Both sides fervently believe that Israeli democracy is at stake. (…) Mr. Friedmann, 71, said he wanted “to restore the balance between the various branches of government,” which had been “completely upset in recent years.” He has argued that unelected judges are waging an antidemocratic revolution.
If this sounds like an echo of the American struggle between conservative and liberal legal theories, it is, but with an important difference. Israel has no constitution because the secular and religious parties could never agree on one.
Therefore, many of the judicial elite see the court as a bulwark for individual rights and against tyranny of the majority and see Mr. Friedmann as a considerable threat.
“All his proposals have a common theme,” said Dalia Dorner, a retired Supreme Court justice. “To emasculate the court and give added strength to the politicians.”
(…) Richard A. Posner, a senior American appeals court judge, called Mr. Barak “a legal buccaneer.”
Mr. Friedmann’s critics say it is he who presents a threat to the delicate fabric of Israeli democracy.
(…) Mr. Friedmann believes he has more supporters than critics. “Once they overstepped their authority, they lost their moral power,” he said of the Supreme Court.
He has some data to back up the point. An annual democracy index published by the Israel Democracy Institute shows that public confidence in the Supreme Court has dropped from 88 percent to 61 percent since 1994. Mr. Carmon, the institute chief, believes that Mr. Barak’s rhetoric was a main factor. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Mazuz: Leaders under suspicion should resign
Nov 23, 2007
(…) Attorney General Menahem Mazuz, who was speaking at a conference in Bar Ilan university, cited Haim Ramon, Tzahi Hanegbi and Avraham Hirschson as examples of ministers…
(…) Next week, a decision is expected in the investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Bank Leumi tender case…
(…) Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, who also attended the conference, opined that corruption was not exclusively a matter of criminality. “I don’t know if the level of corruption in government institutions has risen,” she said. “However, it is bad enough that governmental institutions are seen as corrupt [by the public]. One must bear in mind that not all inappropriate behavior constitutes a criminal offense.”
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Aharon Barak: Israel tops US at protecting human rights
Nov 25, 2007 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) Their speeches focused on the dispute between the Supreme Court and Friedmann over sweeping changes that the justice minister has begun to introduce to reduce the court’s powers…
(…) Friedmann also charged that the judges, including retired justices Barak, Mishael Cheshin and others, were violating the Rules of Ethics for judges that were approved earlier this year. He maintained that according to the rules, judges were prohibited from speaking out on matters that did not involve judicial issues. He also argued that the reforms that he wanted to introduce were not judicial matters, but matters of public policy. Therefore, the judges should not speak out on them.
At the same time, however, he complained that until he was appointed justice minister, the judges and their allies stifled public discussion of the allegedly far-reaching changes they had made in judicial decision-making.
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Lower rate of rape victims reporting to police
Nov 28, 2007 / / By Ruth Eglash
(…) Presenting its annual report, the association’s director Tal Kramer told the assortment of MKs, representatives of women’s organizations and other government officials, including Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, that the decrease in reporting was slight but extremely significant. “It is something that should raise alarm bells,” Kramer said.
(…) A range of mostly female MKs commented on the subject, including MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz), who asked how women could be expected to report sex crimes against them when in high profile cases such as those of former president Moshe Katsav and Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon the women are ridiculed and state pardons are handed out.
JIWON: It will be interesting to compare this article with what appeared five months later.
Hetzroni Zula: a refuge for street youth (from Secular, Arabs, Haredi, & Religious Zionists)
Apr 12, 2008 / By Peggy Cidor
(…) THE NUMBERS are astonishing. By the end of 2007, there were 7,884 street youth aged 14-26, known and registered in various ways with the Youth Advancement Division. As for the “newcomers,” the numbers are even more dramatic. (…) Dan notes that there are more boys than girls living on the streets, but adds that “the girls are in much more serious trouble, due mostly to their naivete and their education from home. Thus they get into trouble more easily, and their problems are very serious.” (…)
Number of homeless female teenagers soar
Apr 15, 2008 / By Ruth Eglash
The number of teenage girls living on Israel’s streets has dramatically increased in the last three years and preventing the young women from being sucked into the sex industry is an extremely difficult task (…) More than 25% of all homeless youth in 2007 were girls, found the report, compared to 15% in 2004. (…) “We are talking about girls aged 17-25 who, because they have nowhere to sleep will go home with a man just so they have a roof over their heads,” explained Gabai, highlighting that 99% of young homeless females are eventually drawn into the sex industry. “There is a real problem in locating homeless teenage girls,” stated the report. “Many of them are picked up by men who take advantage of them, making them sell their bodies in order to survive. That means that in many cases the girls cannot be found out on the streets at night but often find shelter in the outlets of the sex industry.” (…)
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Senior Judge Beckenstein Accuses Beinisch of Deception
Jan 15, 2008 / By Gil Ronen
Two days after the publication of a petition by 20 Knesset Members, (=20 MKs to Beinisch: Disqualify Yourself), against Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch in the matter of her surreptitious meeting with the American ambassador to Israel, she is under fire again, this time from the president of a lower Israeli court. Tel Aviv Magistrates’ Court President Edna Beckenstein accused Beinisch of issuing a statement that has “no grounds in reality” regarding why Magistrates’ Court judge Chayuta Kochan was not being considered for promotion.
(…) According to Yediot Acharonot daily newspaper, Kochan told her friends that Beinisch called her on the phone and told her that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann wanted to avenge Kochan’s guilty verdict against his friend Chaim Ramon and had her name removed from the list of candidates for promotion.
This claim turned out to be untrue, (…) According to this theory, Beinisch decided to cancel Kochan’s promotion in order to try and weaken the rumors that she had conspired with Kochan.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 8
1. The corruption Never ENDS!
This is more evidence of the corruption, lack of ethics and dirty dealings of so-called Israeli ‘justice’. If you think you smell something rotten you probably do. There needs to be a giant overhaul starting with the UNDOING of appointment coming from the bench. Like Savage says: The stench from the bench is making me clench! 
Moriah, Sacramento (16/01/08)
3. Supreme court
Welcome to Israel, the only country where p*******tes can become supreme court judges. Halelluyah!!!
Alain, Montreal Qc (16/01/08)
4. So imprison both Kochan and Beinisch.
It’s ok to plea bargain Kochan so that Beinisch can join Omri Sharon behind bars. Say, for 10 years.
sk, USA (16/01/08)
7. Freemasonry women in Israel’s Judiciary
Finally Prof. Friedmann is cleaning up Israel’s Judiciary. Freemason Dorit Beinisch exceeded her assignment in consulting the Freemason American Ambassador in Israel concerning political matters. The Supreme Court’s building in Yerushalayim, constructed and financed by Freemasonry (Rothschild:
http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/rothschild__the_israeli_supreme.htm
shows the real NWO’s and Freemasonry’s plans with Israel!!! Blessings for Prof. Friedmann in dismantling this cancer in Medinat Israel. Shalom from the Netherlands, Hans Holtrop
Hans Holtrop, The Netherlands (16/01/08)
8. Where there is smoke, there is fire!
The justice system in this country stinks & needs an overhaul.
Avraham, Negev (16/01/08)
9. “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is what you get when the highest court (not necessarily in ethics) engages in political lawmaking. Once the high court gets used to [playing with the law to push the political agenda of justices, why not use the court to protect. And heaven help those who don't play ball. "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." At the expense of Gush Katif, Sharon made a deal with the Left to try & keep his family out of jail (with the help of the Leftist media & the Leftist courts.) Olmert has made the same deal at the expense of Yehudah, Shomron & Y-m. And the Left, the media & the Left on he high court will protect both him and his political allies.9, e.g. Ramon. And heaven help those who don't play ball. "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Aaron Kinsberg, (16/01/08)
10. Conspiracies?
When do conspiracies become movements?
John Hanks, Laramie (17/01/08)
20 MKs to Beinisch: Disqualify Yourself
TALKBACKS 9
1. Why should she?
Israel's supreame court has consistently acted with supreame disdain to any matter of leftist impropriaty why would they start now. The former head of the court barak openly said during a debate that if it was a conflict between a Jewish State and democracy he always judged for democracy even if he had to bend the laws to do it.
Michael, (13/01/08)
2. Time To Dump ALL These Eruv Ravniks!
These elitist rashaim, who consider Eretz Yisroel to be their own personal rechush, control the media, education ministry AND the courts in order to advance their evil plans. They are a danger to the survival of the Jewish people & must be stopped NOW! Where is the civil unrest, where's the Opposition? Sur merah va'asei tov. First dump this garbage!
Dr. Zechariah, New York (13/01/08)
3. Hi-Court violated#30 Univ.Declar. of Human Rts.
11/12 of the HighCourt justices violated #30 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by taking away their civil,religious&human rights
jew, Israel (13/01/08)
4. The Supreme Court's Improprieties. Nothing New
Imagine this - US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia 'discussing' legality of anti terror methods with US Chief Justice Justice Roberts.
In any case, there is nothing new under the sun here. Israel's justices have been taking their orders from their left wing handlers for years.
Adina Kutnicki, (14/01/08)
5. Israel is not a democracy. It is run by the secular elite self-appointed judges
They override the military, the executive orders of the PM, the knesset, and they control all facets of society. The funny thing about the old-school arguments between Rav Kahane ZT"L and the demagogues opposed to him is that the Rav claimed democracy and a Jewish state were contradictions, while they insisted that democracy must stay and Jewish character limited but still upheld. The reality is that that democracy those US "rabbis" so vehemently defended did not even exist in Israel and does not exist today. What planet are people living on?
Velvel, Silver spring (14/01/08)
13. Dorit Beinisch & Olmert as Uncle Toms
It seems that Olmert is not the only ghetto Jew who runs to a foreign power & cow tows/ How disastrous it is when the head of the Court also cow tows to a foreign power.
Aaron Kinsberg, (15/01/08)
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Israeli panel faults 2006 war effort
January 31, 2008 / By Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
But the report on the conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah doesn't cast blame on Olmert or other leaders.
An official panel of inquiry found Wednesday that Israel's failure to win the 2006 war in Lebanon stemmed from "flawed conduct" and "serious failings" by its political and military leadership, but concluded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acted in what he thought was the country's best interest.
The final report on the panel's 16-month investigation casts no personal blame on any leader. Critics of the embattled prime minister said that made it less likely he would soon be forced to resign. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Dror denies backing Olmert
Feb 6, 2008 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) Dror and the committee were strongly attacked by law professor Mordechai Kremnitzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who said the public was losing its faith in the political system because politicians did not take responsibility for their actions and resign when they failed.
Kremnitzer added that although the committee could not have fired the prime minister, it could have recommended firing public servants or ministers who had failed to do their duty.
(…) At the same time, he said that the only body that could have effectively investigated the war and reached accurate conclusions would have been a state commission of inquiry, whose members are appointed by the president of the Supreme Court and would therefore be independent.
(…) Other symposium participants blasted those who had demanded that the Winograd Committee make concrete recommendations regarding those responsible for the failures.
"Our democracy is sick," said Israel Democracy Institute head Arik Carmon. "People are increasingly alienated from the political system. I want to consider the Winograd Committee in that context. I want to consider the 'legalization' of the political process, wherein the only thing the people want to know is whether a politician is innocent or guilty. The Knesset is not fulfilling its task of supervising and criticizing the government. The establishment of a judicial committee of inquiry is meant to let someone else decide who's right. The culture of these committees is anti-politics."
Hebrew University political science professor Shlomo Avineri declared that the reason the government established the institution of the judicial committee of inquiry in the first place was to buy time and appease the public in the face of serious government failures.
JIWON:FOUR months later on June 19, Winograd’s Dror: PM must be ousted. What is his real reason? Real curious…
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An apolitical animal? There’s no such thing
Feb 10, 2008 By Gideon Levy
Shock, surprise: Prof. Yehezkel Dror has political opinions. This sensationalist revelation about a member of the Winograd Committee immediately became one more weapon in the hands of commentators, politicians and self-proclaimed "apolitical" protests that sought to make one final effort to resuscitate their moribund movements.
(…) Having a political opinion has become a slur in these parts. The fashion now is to keep one's distance from all things political. But politics is what shapes our lives and determines fates.
(…) In the United States, which we are so fond of imitating, Congress holds a hearing for all Supreme Court judicial candidates and asks them about their political views. Why? In order to know who will be sitting on the bench. We, too, deserve to know what Dorit Beinisch thinks about international law. Only thus can we evaluate them in the proper light.
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What Winograd thinks of Zelekha
Feb 19, 2008 / By Amir Oren
About two years ago, Ruth Gavison, who served as a member of the Winograd Committee, wrote: "A period of determined struggle against government corruption by the law-enforcement system has produced a series of controversial acquittals. This has led to controversy within the law-enforcement system itself with regard to the right way to fight government corruption." The reader will find it easy to guess that she was referring to Dorit Beinisch (now Supreme Court president) and Edna Arbel (now Supreme Court justice) as state attorneys, to Police Major General Moshe Mizrahi as head of the investigations division (and on the other side, to Mazuz, who closed the Greek island case), and also to Olmert as one of those "controversial acquittals" in the Likud receipts trial.
JIWON:Honestly speaking, I can’t understand this article…
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The devil’s advocate
Mar 2, 2008 / By Liat Collins
Moshe Katsav has not so much had his day in court as nearly two years in a kangaroo court. Lynching is outlawed but the modern equivalent, being strung across banner headlines in tabloids, has been his lot ever since the sex scandal story hit the Israeli public in 2006. For all I know, he deserves it. Or he doesn't. None of us really knows what went on behind closed doors between Katsav and the young lady who has become known as "President's Residence 'A'." They are the only two who can say for sure.
(…) If anything the winners were Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz.
(…) The Katsav affair has caused immense damage to all women who have been assaulted and are scared to press charges and to all men who have been falsely charged and find themselves also the victim of public sentiment.
It has also caused great harm to a legal system already under fire. Since Israel does not have a jury system, the question all Israelis should be asking themselves is who should be the judges in such cases: those in the attorney-general's office and courts, who have the written evidence and testimonies in front of them, or the protesters in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square and elsewhere who have only the tabloids and televised press conferences to inform them?
Whatever you might think of the former president, or of politicians, or, indeed, the country's legal establishment and court system, keep in mind that there is a thin line between prosecution and persecution. Once we've crossed it, there's no saying where we'll end up.
The learned judges of the High Court of Justice could have ruled out the plea bargain and didn't. The kangaroo court should not jump in and act as an even higher court.
There's no justice in that.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Justice Min. says he'll freeze bill to restrict Supreme Court power
Mar 11, 2008 / By Tomer Zarhin
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 10
1. Bill to control Supreme Court? 16:53 Jim 11/03/08 2. When the courts determine defense issues thats no good 17:18 Dish It Out 11/03/08
3. How About A Constitution First? 17:22 B`Galil 11/03/08
4. Supreme Court should enforce the law of the State of Israel 17:36 Sal 11/03/08
5. to bar the Supreme Court from ruling on defense and fiscal issues 18:03 Jules 11/03/08
6. sell out 18:39 paul 11/03/08
7. TO B`Galil #3 19:34 Steve Beikirch 11/03/08
8. Freezing construction,freezing bill to curtail Lefties,freezing 21:15 Absolute Sweden 11/03/08
9. To Steve #7 - You`re partially right 22:09 B`Galil 11/03/08
10. #1 Jim ---What Israeli Constitution 22:48 Labhras 11/03/08
11. What constitution? 22:53 ze`ev 11/03/08
12. TO B`Galil #9 04:40 Steve Beikirch 11/03/08
13. # 10 Labhras 06:24 Jim 11/03/08
14. Justice Minister Friedmann- why did you back down? 19:00 Yehudit 11/03/08
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Beinisch, Friedmann trade angry letters over justices
Mar 27, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann went another round yesterday in their battle over the selection of Supreme Court justices (…) after Friedmann judged that his preferred candidate, Jerusalem District Court Judge Yehudit Tzur, was unlikely to win a majority vote from the committee after Beinisch vetoed her candidacy.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 4: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Rivals Beinisch, Friedmann join forces to shoot down 'court of economics'
Apr 3, 2008 By Meirav Arlozorov
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Ex-chief justice: Friedmann reforms will make Israel third world country
Apr 8, 2008 / By Ari Shavit
(…) Aharon Barak said he understood that Friedmann's appointment was dangerous when the minister set out to change the law in order to limit the Supreme Court president's term to only seven years, as it is for the presidents of other courts. This is seemingly a marginal, administrative change. But Barak says he understood "this is just a point on a chart, and the goal of the chart is damaging the status of the Supreme Court president."
"The straw that broke the camel's back" was when Friedmann sent Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch a letter stating that it was not written anywhere that the president runs the court system.
"Then I knew that he has a distorted view of the president's role. I understood he does not understand that the president is the one who shields the system from destructive influences," said Barak.
(…) Even the blockade on Gaza is judiciable, he said. All the issues relating to Gaza and the West Bank are judiciable. And why? Because there is international law.
The fight is over the character of Israeli democracy, Barak said. A proper democracy is the rule of the majority and the rule of law. There is no democracy without the rule of the majority, but without the rule of law there is no democracy either, without a separation of powers and protection for the individual and minorities.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 11
1. Yes, Subordinate to Politicians... i.e. Democracy 05:45 Straight Talk 08/04/08
2. Friedman is the Result of a Sea of Corruption Not the Cause 06:23 Lou Knee
3. "Third world"? - "Fascist" would be a better description. 06:26 Israel_is_Done
4. Hey Barak - It`s Called Checks and Balances 06:39 Legal Observer
5. Don`t Fry Israels Justice System Listen to Barak 06:57 Zev
6. Thank You Lou 07:07 Zev
7. Retire already! Barak believes in JUDICIAL TYRANNY!!! 07:52 Yaki
8. CHECKS & BALANCES for the unelected branch!!!! Ben
9. Democratic countries are not run by the courts .... 08:18 redmike
10. Sanctimonious & Tyrannical Courts in Israel!!! 08:35 Jarod
12. Insult to the Third World 10:13 Chanalau, Tova
13-15. Barak is right 10:19 Jim
16. # 11 this is not america or the UK 11:00 JIm
17. #11 - The US and the UK are not democracies either 11:06 redmike
20. barak and jurisdictional issues are complete strangers 11:54 victor hardman
24. Unless Mr Barak saves us from ourselves, No Thanks! 13:19 Jake
25. What long media silence? Barak has not shut up. 13:55 S Judah
28. He should talk now!!! 14:04 Buzaglow
29. Abuse of power 14:39 Dror
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Friedmann: Keep Supreme Court out of immigration, citizenship laws
May 09, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann has proposed an amendment to the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom that would exempt laws relating to immigration and citizenship from judicial review.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Justice minister blasts 'publicity hungry' Supreme Court
May 27, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann on Monday accused Supreme Court justices of encouraging controversial cases that will draw media attention, even if the petitions in question have no chance of being accepted.
(…) According to Friedmann, there are two Supreme Courts - the one that existed during the state's first four decades, and the court of the past 20 years. The first court exercised self-restraint, he said, but the second is overly involved in controversial issues.
(…) Responding to Friedmann's salvos, former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak termed the minister's description of the court "a caricature."
(…) Barak also blamed government officials for the rise in the number of petitions to the court, (…) Barak added that the increase in the number of petitions does not stem "from a new Supreme Court; the cause is the same old government."
(…) The current court president, Justice Dorit Beinisch, told the conference that there are efforts to curtail the court's powers of judicial oversight, and charged that this is a deceptive and mistaken use of the principle of checks and balances. She added that there is an attempt to create the impression that the court is infringing on areas beyond its proper purview, in an effort to signal the bench that unless it behaves with restraint in pending cases, legislation will be passed to curtail its power.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 12
1. DICTATORSHIP of the clerks: No CHECKS & BALANCES in ISRAEL!!! 08:56 Ben Uziel
2. but the second is overly involved in controversial issues. 11:18 Esther
3. Common sense 12:27 Joseph
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Senior judge Beckenstein rapped for meeting journalists
May 27, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
(…) Strasberg-Cohen looked into Bekenstein's behavior in response to a complaint filed by Beinisch around three months ago.
(…) Bekenstein told Haaretz in response that "the ombudsman's decision in this matter was tendentious and was intended from the start to satisfy President Beinisch. My letter [to Beinisch] was not given to the press by me. In contrast, an announcement was sent to the press about the president having filed a complaint against me, a proceeding that is internal, confidential and personal. And that is without even mentioning the ombudsman’s decision, which was forwarded in a ‘personal, confidential, for the addressee only’ letter, but is today circulating in the media.”
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Ministerial vote on judge selection process postponed
Jun 1, 2008 / By Rebecca Anna Stoil
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided Sunday to postpone its vote on a bill submitted by MK Eli Gabai (NU/NRP) that would change the way judges are selected. The bill, which is similar to one drawn up by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann…
(…) A new date has yet to be set for a vote on the legislation, but Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch already took to the airwaves on Sunday to express her opposition to the proposed law.
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Kadima’s Ex-finance minister is indicted but remains an active MK
Jun 4, 2008 By Rebecca Anna Stoil
Hirchson, who resigned as finance minister in spring 2007 under intense pressure due to the criminal investigation against him, (…) In comparison, during the first half-year following his resignation from the Finance Ministry, Hirchson did not sponsor or sign on to a single piece of legislation… any person who serves in the IDF as an enlistee… doubling the allowance for Holocaust survivors… an amendment to the Israel Lands Law…
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A Dangerous Wish
June 08, 2008 / By Ruth Gavison
This past Monday, Ze’ev Segal urged the attorney general, from the pages of Haaretz, to declare the prime minister temporarily incapacitated. He argued that since the law does not state how incapacity is to be determined, it is the attorney general who has the authority, and the obligation, to bring about what, in Segal’s view, is the requisite conclusion of businessman Morris Talansky’s testimony: an immediate halt to Ehud Olmert’s term as prime minister.
This demand is mistaken and even dangerous. It is liable to disrupt the workings of the entire political system and cause grave damage to the attorney general’s credibility. And the greatest harm would be to neither Ehud Olmert nor the current attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, but to the fundamental principles of a parliamentary democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law itself.
(…) The orderly transfer of the prime minister’s duties is in the best interests not of the departing prime minister, but of the State of Israel. The choice of a successor is a highly complex political matter. Only if this successor is selected by the political system itself can we hope to have a functioning government with a significant public mandate to act. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Analyze This: Trusting the public
Jun 11, 2008 / By Calev Ben-David
(…) But that, of course, is not the danger indicated by this study. The real problem is that many of these institutions don’t deserve that confidence.
Much of the initial concern expressed by political figures and media pundits over the report’s findings was the sharp drop – from 61% to 49% – in the public’s trust in the Supreme Court.
Blame for this is being laid squarely on Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann’s desk, as a result of his campaign to institute reforms in the court’s selection and judicial processes. That’s undoubtedly true – but what does it say about the way the court has responded to this effort, that Friedmann’s efforts have had this kind of effect on the public’s trust in it? Doesn’t it also raise equally serious, and entirely legitimate questions, about the performance of Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch in this dispute? (…)
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Report: Government panel to probe Ramon sex crime inquiry (Use of Wiretapping)
Jun 11, 2008
TALKBACKS 13
1. “Sex-crime”…? 23:31 Esther 11/06/08
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‘Intifada bill’ stirs controversy amid HR groups
Jun 12, 2008 / By Dan Izenberg
Prof. Sinai Deutch of the Netanya Academic College on Wednesday blasted human rights organizations who criticized the justice minister for drafting legislation essentially barring Palestinians from suing the state for damages caused by security forces since the beginning of the second intifada.
(…) Two months after the court rejected the law, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed Daniel Friedmann as justice minister. On June 4, 2007, Friedmann ordered ministry attorneys to prepare a new bill after the Ministerial Legislation Committee rejected a private members’ bill submitted by Likud MK Michael Eitan to re-instate the government’s rejected legislation.
During that meeting, Friedmann said the High Court decision had caused harm to the state and that the law that the court rejected had been carefully worded by the attorney-general and the State Attorney’s Office in a way that was “more than proportional.” He said there weren’t many examples of a nation paying damages to another while they were at war. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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News in Brief: Katsav lawyers to ask Friedmann whether former president can expect fair trial
June 16, 2008
Lawyers of former president Moshe Katsav will today ask Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to consider whether their client can receive a fair trial, given the media exposure of the sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him as well as the judges’ previous involvement in the case. Lawyers Avigdor Feldman, Zion Amir and Avraham Lavi claim Judge Shulamit Dotan wrote an official document in which she criticized the decision made by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch over a plea bargain with Katsav, which was later canceled by the former president. A Judicial Authority spokesperson said the memo was for in-court purposes only and was drawn up to facilitate legal procedures. (Ofra Edelman)
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Eitan-bill: Friedmann fails to garner support for limit to High Court (By Labor)
June 17, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
The ministerial committee for legislation yesterday rejected a private member’s bill aimed at limiting the right of the High Court of Justice to intervene in laws concerning entry into Israel and citizenship. The only member of the committee to vote in favor of the bill was the panel’s chairman, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann.
(…) According to Eitan’s proposal, which would amend the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, courts would not be able to overturn laws that restrict entry into Israel…
(…) the ministerial committee began discussing it after Friedmann proposed a more sweeping version of the same bill about a year ago. The Labor Party had already announced that it opposes the move, and its agreement is necessary to amend a Basic Law. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Sa’ar-bill: Nobel laureate Aumann applies game theory to judge selection
Jun 17, 2008 / By Dan Izenberg
(…) During the meeting Aumann had much less to say about game theory than he did about what was wrong with the Supreme Court and the committee that chooses it. (…) He added that he was “shocked” to hear that Ben-Sasson had asked Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch for her opinion of the bill.
“This contradicts the separation of the branches of government,” he said in his introductory remarks. He also blamed the Supreme Court for its efforts to curb its power.
“The court brought the politicization upon itself because it deals with matters pertaining to social values, politics and security,” he charged. There should also be no judges or lawyers on the committee that choose the justices of the Supreme Court in the first place, he added later, since the court deals with these three areas. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Sa’ar-bill: Beinisch gives quiet support to upping judicial appt. majority
June 19, 2008 / By Shahar Ilan
(…) Beinisch thereby indicated that she does not oppose the bill.
(…) Robert (Yisrael) Aumann, a Nobel Prize laureate in economics, raised a different issue, arguing that lawyers and judges should not sit on the JAC at all. Currently, the JAC’s nine members include three Supreme Court justices and two Bar Association representatives, along with two ministers and two Knesset members.
“It’s a scandal that lawyers are represented on the committee, when they must appear before the judges [they appoint],” he said. “This is institutional corruption.”
Regarding the issue over which he had been invited to the Constitution Committee – explaining how the bill would affect the current balance of power among the JAC’s four factions – Aumann said the Supreme Court justices would retain their current dominance in the appointments process, since the bill gave any bloc of three members a veto. He therefore opposed the bill, saying it would prevent a more fundamental reform of the system.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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Lightning never strikes twice?
June 18, 2008 / By Yoel Marcus
Defense Minister Ehud Barak called me on Saturday night, brimming with complaints about Ehud Olmert. (…) And yet Defense Minister Barak, operating responsibly, in full coordination with the chief of staff and the defense establishment, has not managed to hoist himself into the leadership saddle. His political comeback has not really taken off. In the surveys, he comes in second to last. He is shooting in all directions, without a clear-cut target – for instance, helping to rid us of Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, which would transform him into a leader of all the people.
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Attorney-General slams Ramon’s ‘crusade’
June 18, 2008 / By Dan Izenberg
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz blasted Vice Premier Haim Ramon on Wednesday for allegedly trying to undermine the law enforcement branches of government by limiting their powers.
Mazuz was speaking at the closing session of the third annual Movement for Quality Government conference in Jerusalem, which dealt with corruption in the public sector.
(…) Mazuz appeared even more angry at the proposal submitted by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann at Ramon’s urging to establish a government committee of examination into the wiretapping affair in which the state attorney’s office failed to hand over transcripts of wiretapped conversations to Ramon’s lawyer before the beginning of his trial. (…)
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A High Court petition too far
June 19, 2008 / By Israel Harel
(…) In so doing, the court failed in its role as the defender of basic democratic rights: freedom of movement, freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.
According to a recent survey by the Israel Democracy Institute, only one-third of Israelis believe that the Supreme Court is the institution that best safeguards democracy, and only 49 percent of the respondents expressed trust in the court. On the day the poll was released, June 10, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch said the battle being waged against the court, in particular the attacks by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, were the cause of such results. That situation, she declared, is a threat to democracy.
But in fact the erosion of trust began years before Friedmann was appointed. The main agent responsible for damaging public trust in the court is the court itself, which has positioned itself ideologically in the exact same place as the radical left, some of whose components are self-declared post-Zionists or even anti-Zionists. It’s no wonder that most of the public has concluded that the High Court of Justice is promoting the position held by entities whose goal is to bring about a de facto de-Zionization of the state of the Jews. (…)
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Legal Affairs: Bench pressure
Jun 26, 2008 / By Dan Izenberg
The petition filed this week by Aviva and Noam Schalit has triggered another round of debate over the prerogatives of the High Court of Justice. It calls on the security cabinet to reconsider the decision to open the Israeli-Gaza border crossings without the release of their son, Gilad.
Which raises the question: How does the Supreme Court even entertain the possibility of rejecting a government decision on a matter so clearly related to questions of war and peace, and the security of tens of thousands of citizens living adjacent to the Gaza Strip – issues that are clearly the responsibility of the government? And why didn’t it throw out the petition without considering it?
This question echoes the accusations of “over-activism” that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann has been hurling at the court over the past year-and-a-half. During his time in office, Friedmann has raised the possibility of prohibiting the court, through legislation, from hearing petitions related to security matters and those affecting the government budget. He also supported a private Knesset member’s bill to bar the court from hearing petitions related to citizenship matters.
So far, none of these initiatives has come to fruition. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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My Behind-Scene-Messages to the READERS,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
June 25, 2008 (13:15)
JIWON: I need more time to research. Thanks to DM Barak’s sickish behaviors, which literally mocked my naïve support, I wanted to search more information on Dorit Beinisch. I need more time.
Senior Judge Accuses Beinisch of Deception Jan 15, 2008
June 26, 2008 (08:00)
JIWON: Ho! It was not a normal sex-scandal. I used to think that the inside story was “when a girl met a boy,” and the Media destroyed it. It was not. Hum… I am amazed at finding the way Dorit Beinisch earned her enemies. To be honest, I want to see Beinisch family suffers in the exact way my story destroyed my family. No less, no more. Pretty sure that this sickish family will be busier behind scenes. Then, is Daniel Barenboim now literally sleeping under Meier’s cleavage? I’ve been suspecting the entire scene since the moment Bibi was excluded from Beinisch’s concern. Then, Bibi is also busier in other places. Hum…
June 26, 2008 (13:00)
The Gavison Solution Apr 20, 2007 / By Yuval Yoaz
JIWON: No intention to support PM Olmert. I just couldn’t understand the reason of Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On. Nor could I understand why Israeli prime minister should resign after the war, which most outsiders don’t consider as a war. Did American ask their president to resign after Afghanistan and Iraq war? How many soldiers died during the war and even now? I just can’t understand. Then, I remember that this name, Gavison, was one of hot potatoes while searching for articles about Dorit Beinisch. Hum… Anyway, I just realized that the most sickish journalist of the Haaretz also wrote the most sickish article on Ramon’s sex-scandal. I’m now very interested in his private life.
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A brutal initiative
Jun 27, 2008
(…) The Labor Party has managed so far to block other crackpot legislative initiatives with the veto it was granted in the coalition agreement. Until Friedmann is replaced with a minister who understands the meaning of constitutional democracy, it is doubtful we can relax. Labor’s role is critical here as well.
The Kadima-Labor agreement, which is intended to shorten the prime minister’s term due to suspicions of corruption, should have included a little clause promising that Friedmann will go home when Ehud Olmert does.
Meanwhile, one can only hope that as the Knesset is going on summer recess, this will be Friedmann’s last chance to try to undermine the High Court’s powers, and to infringe on the human and civil rights that the High Court protects.
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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My Official Mail to Knesset,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
June 27, 2008 (21:00)
JIWON: I finished one collection. It will take time to edit this part with the present editing tool. I must say… You Jews Deserved the Gas Chamber. The real problem was not Basic Law. It was rather… Since I collected all the possible articles in chronological order, you will figure it out. What I feel funny about DM Barak is that he was the one who pleaded with public to solve this problem, then he played the trick behind scenes… just funny.
“Israel can be proud of an independent and professional system,” said Beinisch, adding that she constantly received praise from colleagues abroad about Israel’s judicial system.
Don’t you think she should check it by herself? Now that I am about to ask all over the world, especially the governmental officers, to read my collection about… I’ve hardly read a dirtier story than this one. Very similar to my story…
My Behind-Scene-Messages to the READERS
June 28, 2008 (10:40)
JIWON: Congratulation on Daniel Barenboim, the most foolish mama’s boy, whose international fame was hilariously used in Beinisch Family Business…
Anyway, I want some more research. I find that all the sickish problems here, there and everywhere in Israel all stemmed from the simple fact, ill qualification of Dorit Beinisch. It was a typical simple story about “When a bimbo got a power.” No matter how high her IQ is, bimbo was a bimbo… speechless.
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Sa’ar-bill: Unknown: Our next Supreme Court
Jun 29, 2008 / By Shahar Ilan
Last week was an excellent week for passing bills quietly, almost without anyone noticing. (…) One reason no public discourse surfaced over Sa’ar’s bill is apparently Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch’s statement that she would not express an opinion on the law, meaning that she would not oppose it. In the age of Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, she apparently sees the Sa’ar bill as the lesser evil. (…)
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
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My Official Mail to Knesset,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
June 30, 2008 (09:50)
JIWON:
I left my USB stick in another computer. Still, I had some work to be done.
http://www.gavison.com/
WOW! I’ve hardly (=never) seen more intelligent female than this figure. However, photo images don’t give me everything… sometimes opposite. So, I wanted to know more about her.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Ruth+Gavison+&search_type=&aq=f
AIPAC Israel Today and Tomorrow Panel Highlights Part 1
AIPAC Israel Today and Tomorrow Panel Highlights Part 2
I DO like her!!! This is certainly the most brilliant, witty, strong woman I’ve ever met. The more I search for information about Dorit Beinisch, the more I got disappointed at this female character, even at her mentor Ahron Barak. To be honest, all the criticism JM Friedmann threw in the media against those two sounded perfectly reasonable. If I were in a legal society, my professional criticism would have been much harsher, because Dorit Beinich always shows the typical case of one-dimensional female’s brain, which can easily score higher grade than her male competitors’ in a classroom. I just don’t know how to express my exact judgment in my poor legal knowledge and English. I just nodded my head whenever JM Friedmann threw his open criticism.
On the contrary, the more I search for this another female Jew, Ruth Gavison, the more I feel like watching a typical Jewish character. Thanks to the articles on recent Ahron Barak, whose behaviors looked anything but ex-president of Supreme Court, (more frankly… he looked like an old man showing pure signs of senility), Prof. Gavison’s level sounded far superior to Ahron Barak’s.
This old, strong woman looked so witty that I wanted to know all the details about her private life. It will be even fun to watch her frustration while being attacked by her opponents, who want to play the check and balance role. I dared to say. Ruth Gavison should have been the FIRST FEMALE president of Supreme Court of Israel. Shame on Israel…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Gavison
This information is simpler than Dorit Beinisch’s. But every each word hooks my attention, and it naturally makes me believe that this female is a terrific human being.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990782.html June 08, 2008
A dangerous wish By Ruth Gavison
TALKBACKS
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909325.html Last update – 09:02 03/10/2007
The right and the return By Ruth Gavison
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992388.html Last update – 02:54 13/06/2008
Conversion versus joining By Ruth Gavison
JIWON:
Please compare all those TALKBACKS with the ones in articles reporting Dorit Beinisch, who always appearing as Barak’s inferior girl. Beinisch’s haters used to insult Beinisch being a X-like human being. Did they praise or criticize Beinisch’s own achievement?
Meanwhile, this is what I found while searching for more images about Ruth Gavison. There will be no “Sincerely yours, JIWON” at the end of this mail. I will post it as one official mail to Knesset. Thanks.
P.S.: As for Hizbullah Deal, I am also falling into dilemma. Tamir is right. Bar-On is right. Friedmann is right. Boim is right… I am happy that this is beyond my ability. My only advice will be that Israel should prepare possible future, and the public should know it.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-olmert31jan31,0,2747116.story
January 31, 2008 / By Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Israeli panel faults 2006 war effort: But the report on the conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah doesn’t cast blame on Olmert or other leaders.
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Mazuz warns against amending Citizenship Law
June 30, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
(…) Friedmann’s present proposal came after the Labor Party rejected a broader draft amendment, removing barring judicial review of all laws relating to citizenship.
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TA judges lambast Beinisch for ongoing case overload
June 30, 2008 / By Tomer Zarchin
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch yesterday visited the Tel Aviv District Court, where she came under attack by judges for not doing anything about the paralyzing case overload at Israel’s busiest court.
(…) The courts spokeswoman said in response that Israel’s system is very overloaded, particularly the Tel Aviv District Court, which handles a high number of complicated cases. (…)
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Friedmann presents bill to reduce judicial workload during court visit
July 03, 2008 / By Ofra Edelman
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My Behind-Scene-Messages to the READERS,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
July 1, 2008 (8:30)
JIWON: Though my research is already done, I need to organize stuffs in a different way. Thanks to Attorney General Mazuz’s painful tears and Bibi’s questionable involvement in Katsav’s sex-scandal, I realized that all the articles, from Ramon’s French kiss to Winograd Report, are related each other, and one Talkback, “Beinisch Politics has nothing to do with LAW,” was all behind these dirty stories. Promise… this is my last work before finishing my Requests to Barenboim.
My Official Mail to Knesset
July 2, 2008 (20:20)
JIWON:
I am toward the end of collection. The format will be like this:
Talkbacks: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
Selected Articles 1: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
(There will be another section called “Beinisch Politics has nothing to do with LAW.” But they are already in the first section. I just want to make it as a special section to show everybody that Dorit’s dirty method is nothing but one of typical tricks of male-chauvinist’s favorite bimbo.)
Though I can’t understand two articles, ‘Intifada bill’ stirs controversy and Mazuz warns against amending Citizenship Law…, I can never understand what’s wrong with JM Friedmann. Every each word from his mouth sounds perfectly right, and I find that there is a more fundamental problem to cause his willingness to change the Basic Law.
Anyway, I’ve never read dirtier stories than this one. At the same time, I’ve never read more terrific articles than those. I know nothing about LAW, then what about Law Professionals, who have been reading those same articles in Israel? Especially female law specialists? Where are all those terrific journalists working now? Were they fired by Dorit Beinisch? I totally lost my interest in Israel. Once I receive my money from Barenboim, I will leave quickly. I will just want to finish my business with Yechezkel Beinisch. I won’t give it up even after his death. Promise.
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Supreme Court president: Our justices are the target of incitement (Haaretz)
Jul 3, 2008
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 14
1. democratic = not only from Rehavia ,not only non-religuous. 15:05 Vogel 03/07/08
2. Incitement 16:39 Dr. David Feigenbaum
3. Incitement? 16:55 Arie
4. Real source of incitement 17:42 Gee
5. Knesset must strip Court of authority to make new law 18:19 Dr. L. Brnd
6. Israel hamstrung by second-rate governmental institutions 19:29 IW
7. No MS beinisch: they incite 20:52 A thinking Jew
8. Ho hum. when in doubt attack. 20:54 Jewboy
9. Beinish is right! Arrest the inciters! 22:16 Gil J. Yashar
10. #9 reductio ad absurdum 03:25 A thinking Jew 04/07/08
Beinish: Democracy has paid heavy price for incitement (Ynetnews)
Jul 3, 2008 / By Ronen Medzini
JIWON:For the entire text, please click Selected Articles 5: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
TALKBACKS 15
1. Could you explain how SELF-ELECTED judges can be a Democracy
Miriam, Israel (07.03.08)
2. If the judges in the Jewish state act like they’re in Sodom&
Amora, can you blame the citizens for slandering the judicial system? YOU YOURSELF ARE TO BLAME that you are Jewish and judge AGAINST our Torah!
Miriam, Israel (07.03.08)
3. But NO Justice if you are a Jew!
Linda Rivera, New York (07.03.08)
4. JUDGES ?
These are not the judges of the people of Israel, they do not even uphold Jewish law, but English Ottoman law. These are self appointed elitists who bend these alien laws to the state’s benefit and protection of an secular corrupt system. Over and over again we see that their political agenda is more important then impartial justice. The word Democracy sounds hollow out of the mouth of Beinish, who is part of incitement herself.
DAVID , JUDEA (07.03.08)
5. Beinish and her people are corrupt stuges
She has no shame at all. She is corrupt as Olmert.
Mike, Haifa (07.03.08)
6. More like CROOKS
These people are crooks and we are suppose to respect them? HELL NO!
Jewish Law (07.03.08)
7. 3 – loonie tunes rivera is back
been working on some more cut-and-paste posts?
mike, israel (formerly usa (07.03.08)
8. Democracy suffers
Democracy suffers when free speech is banned.
Kyle, Southpark, CO, USA (07.03.08)
9. Jewish Democratic State
The problem with the judges is that they only emphasize the Democratic apect and completely ignore the Jewish principles of the state.
Chaim (07.03.08)
10. Beinish, if you can’t take the heat than get out of the damn
kitchen!!!, Shlomo, Israel (07.03.08)
11. “Public slander”???? There is no such thing
as “public slander”. The public figures are a fair game and in a free society people are free to say ANYTHING they please about them.
Antonio, Haifa (07.03.08)
12. We are paying a heavier price in blood
because of a “judicial” system that meddles in our security. In a system that allows foreigners to use it, like the palis or anti Zionist n.g.o.s. We have a judicial system that bends over backwards to be politically correct at the expense of our life and limb. They use their system to please the eurabian,the u.n. and the U.S. state dept. We do not need this system and we do not need these “judges”.
jason white , afula,israel (07.03.08)
13. Mindless talk amongst fools
If the security of the state is in question as it is right now, then this mindelss talk about democracy is akin to nothingness. Rome is burning while the self anointed mayvens of nothingness wax poetic about nothingness. Hey dummy your house is on fire. get out and put out the flames….. “No” you answer. “I have to debate with myself whether I deserve to put out the flames and whether they may disturb the rights of the water pail.” Pass me an advil…I’ve heard enough.
Al (07.03.08)
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My Official Mail to Knesset,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
July 3, 2008 (20:00)
Supreme Court president: Our justices are the target of incitement (Haaretz)
Beinish: Democracy has paid heavy price for incitement (Ynetnews)
“Public slander… to raise incitement against them… quite a few tendentious attempts… Don’t listen to these claims. They are based on misinformation and deception. The reality is very far from what is described.”
JIWON:
Hello,
Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME?
Public slander?
To raise incitement against them?
Thank god that I am no more considered as a ghost. HOWEVER… When did I raise incitement against THEM? My only subject was HER, and it was a result of reading more than 100 articles, which were written by professional journalists. They never blamed THEM, including A-G Mazuz, who was rather described as an innocent victim. Tendentious attempts? I clicked all the possible sources found in the Google-Web and organized them in chronological order. That was all I did. Is she really a president of Supreme Court of Israel, whose IQ must have been ten times higher than mine? In my previous mail, Dear Berlin Mayor and President of Supreme Court of Israel on May 15, I clearly wrote how much I valued her ability and even her beauty. I even expressed my pure respect of the FIRST female president of Supreme Court of Israel.
I finished organizing articles. Not yet posted, though. Tomorrow…
One more article from the New York Times should be added in-between;
Beinisch: Friedmann`s claim that High Court impedes Knesset baseless (Article No. 47)
Mazuz: Leaders under suspicion should resign (Article No. 49)
I didn’t know that it was already an international issue. Perhaps, I should join Facebook.com to check common sense of Israeli public and American Jews. (I was thinking about this but didn’t know when…) I am a good girl, who likes to follow an order from above. The president of Supreme Court of Israel wants to prove that all those more than hundred articles about Beinisch are based on misinformation and deception. It will be my honor to help her to prove it.
Perhaps, it could also prove a shortcut to finish my business with Yechezkel Beinisch. Perhaps, it could help me to understand one mysterious article about Beinisch and Rabin. I wanted to know the whole story but couldn’t. What does she mean “period of incitement just before Rabin’s assassination”?
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COLLECTION WILL KEEP GOING…
JIWON: For the entire text, please click
Selected Articles P.S.: Beinisch, Friedmann, Sex-Scandal, Corruption (Kangaroo Court from Sep 12, 2003)
Selected Articles P.P.S.: Beinisch’s Secret Society Can’t Accept Olmert/Friedmann
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My Official Mail to Knesset,
which is part of Hello, Is Dorit Beinisch talking about ME? Public Slander? (Regarding Ruth Gavison) (From Jun 24 to Present).
July 14, 2008 08:30
JIWON: Now, I feel very sorry for Labor’s female MK Shelly Yechimovich. The more article I read, the more dirty information I get and they are referring PM Barak’s foolish decision even before Olmert’s Winograd report.
July 15, 2008 10:00
JIWON: MY OPINION ABOUT RAMON’S FRENCH KISS…
Please check my Knesset-Jokes. I just love it… ho-ho-ho♥:
Beinisch: Media to blame for public’s loss of faith in courts (Jul 21, 2008).: (…) Peres reiterated his frequent contention that Israel was not a corrupt country. If it were, he said, there wouldn’t be a war against corruption. Peres blamed the election system for some of the existing corruption. It was not so bad when there were only two major political parties, he said, but with a lot of small parties it has become problematic, because they all need funding. He suggested tightening the threshold to make it more difficult for the smaller parties to win seats in the Knesset, and introducing regional elections.
JIWON: Really? Talkbacks: Beinisch Politics has nothing to do with LAW I thought Media was Beinisch’s best friend. This is exactly why I am going to join ALL the forums to check this information is right. Hum…
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JIWON: Just out of curiosity. What means Basic Law?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/tags/index.jhtml?tag=basic+law
ANALYSIS: A prime minister must be transparent about his health Oct 29, 2007
Orlev, Beilin to submit bill that would facilitate PM’s suspension May 12, 2008
Knesset advances bill to make Jerusalem capital of the Jewish people Jun 4, 2008
A brutal initiative (Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom) Jun 27, 2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/tags/index.jhtml?tag=Justice+minister
Top jurists to Justice Minister: Straighten up or resign Aug 10, 2007
Justice Minister pushes bill to limit High Court power on defense Nov 16, 2007
Ex-justices lash out at reforms proposed by Justice Minister Nov 17, 2007
The pulsating heart of the nation Dec 1, 2007
Ex-chief justice calls on MKs, ministers to oppose Friedmann’s reforms Jan 23, 2008
No minister ever dreamt of such mobility Feb 18, 2008
A brutal initiative (Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom) Jun 27, 2008
