Slippery Slope

A Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court judge was summoned Wednesday for a clarification meeting by Supreme Court President Asher Grunis to address complaints that he made sexual comments to a police prosecutor during a hearing in his court last week. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Walla!)

Judge Eliahu Bitan of the Be’er Sheva District Court ruled that Simon Waledo, an Eritrean migrant laborer currently being held in Saharonim Prison, cannot be released on humanitarian grounds just because he was tortured before crossing the border. The judge said that since torture of asylum seekers in Sinai is widespare, it does not qualify as an “exceptional humanitarian reason.” He further added that accepting the appeal would encourage illegal immigrants to inflict wounds upon themselves in a bid to be allowed to stay in the country.

On the basis of the conclusions of the Turkel committee, the High Court of Justice asked the State of Israel to consider its decision not to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah in Bil’in.

(Hebrew)

The State Prosecutor’s Office is creating a new department to deal with issues related to illegal immigrants. The new department will be headed by attorney Yochi Gnessin, for whom the position was specially created in order to prevent her retirement from the Prosecutor’s Office, and to which she will be appointed without a public tender. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Israeli police investigators have been waiting for the past three years for the approval of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to commence an investigator of a judge from the center of Israel who is suspected of beating his children. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

The Annual Report of the Judicial Ombudsman, former High Court Justice Eliezer Goldberg, shows that in 2012 there was a rise in the number of justified complaints against judges, even though the total number of complaints has gone down. Most of the complaints are about Rabbinical and Family Courts. The report also points to many cases of legal red tape, at all judicial levels.

(Hebrew – Ynet)

An indictment has been filed against Aviva Weinstein, wife of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, for employing a foreign laborer in her home. Even though the foreign laborer was employed in a home the Weinstein couple share, the name of the AG does not appear in the indictment. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

While talks were underway for Gilad Shalit’s release in 2009, changes were made in military law regarding the early release of prisoners ‏(security order number 1677‏). These amendments, and the interpretation now being given to the order, allow the IDF and the Shin Bet to rearrest any released prisoner until the end of his or her original sentence, on the slightest pretext. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The Tel-Aviv District Court handed a sentence of six months community service to Haim Mula who was convicted in the framework of a plea bargain of involvement in a molotov cocktail attack on the homes of asylum seekers in Tel-Aviv. The judge harshly criticized the prosecution, saying “the fact the plea bargain was reached due to lack of hard evidence was problematic. It is hard to understand how an indictment is served when there is such a shortage of evidence.” (Jerusalem Post)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

The state was forced to pay compensation totalling 95,000 NIS to a plaintive after a ruling in his case on construction faults, written by retired justice Michaela Shidlovsky-Or, was delayed by 15 years.

(Hebrew – Haaretz)