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23 Kislev 5761 - December 20, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Justice Cheshin Does not Apologize for Anti-Chareidi Remarks
by Betzalel Kahn and Mordecai Plaut

High Court Justice Mishael Cheshin's pronouncements about the chareidi sector's lack of rights have elicited acerbic reactions not only from the chareidi sector, as would seem natural, but from the secular public as well. Justice Cheshin has not apologized for his remarks, and he even sought personal support against what he called "the chareidi attacks" from the Central Elections Committee which he heads.

Yated Ne'eman reported Cheshin's remarks to Attorney Yoram Sheftel with respect to Sheftel's demand to increase chareidi representation on both the board of the Broadcasting Authority and the Second Channel Authority last week. The request came in the course of arguments in a general suit brought against Broadcast Authority appointments, charging that they do not represent the broad public.

Professor Eli Pollack, chairman of the Federation for the Public's Right to Know (who brought the suit against the appointments to the Broadcast Authority's board), reported that Cheshin said, "Why are you defending the chareidi sector? They don't recognize us. They only go to their rabbis. As long as they don't come to argue before the court, you have nothing to claim for them."

On 15 Kislev, the spokesperson of the courts related that Justice Cheshin was misquoted. She said, "When Attorney Sheftel claimed that the chareidim lack sufficient representation on the board of the Broadcasting Authority and the Second Authority, Cheshin asked if he had been empowered by the chareidim to serve as their attorney. When Sheftel replied in the negative and nonetheless insisted on his right to make such claims, Justice Cheshin said that if the chareidim have complaints about discrimination they should bring them personally to court. In this context, Cheshin added that since the chareidim do not recognize the court's legitimacy, and he therefore expects them to make claims in their own name, and not through Attorney Sheftel.

Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz demanded that Justice Minister Yossi Beilin dismiss High Court Justice Mishael Cheshin, or at least to make certain that Justice Cheshin is not on any panels of judges deliberating on issues in which a chareidi person is involved.

Speaking in the Knesset plenum, Rabbi Ravitz attacked Justice Cheshin and said: "A very sad chapter has been recorded in the annals of human rights. I, personally, agree that we should go to rabbonim [to litigate], but then the government must also abide by rulings of the rabbonim, and the police must implement their rulings. However, Justice Cheshin doesn't allow this,"

Rabbi Ravitz then asked if Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Obaied, terrorists who are being held by Israeli authorities as "bargaining chips" in Lebanon and on whose behalf the High Court does deliberate, recognize the Israeli legal establishment. Do thieves and murderers recognize justice at all, he exclaimed. Nonetheless, the High Court protects their rights. "Only the chareidi sector has no rights because they ask their rabbonim! Why didn't Cheshin send Dirani to Nasrallah (head of Hizbullah)?"

In a letter to Justice Minster Yossi Beilin, Rabbi Ravitz wrote, "For the protection of human rights, I think that you as Justice Minister should make efforts to dismiss Justice Cheshin, because his remarks undermine human rights. According to Justice Cheshin, a large portion of the state's citizens have no rights if they appear in court.

"However, if in your role as Justice Minister you cannot dismiss him, you should at least make sure that he won't sit in trials and appeals involving chareidim. We can't accept his rulings because he undermines the rights of the chareidi minority in the State of Israel."

MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni also demanded that Justice Cheshin disqualify himself from deliberations on any case pertaining to the chareidi sector.

Rabbi Menachem Porush also demanded Justice Cheshin's dismissal. In a letter to Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, Rabbi Porush wrote: "Mishael Cheshin has shown his fangs through his unequivocal remarks. We were aware of this antipathy on the part of the secular judicial establishment; in the past there were attempts to reach some sort of mutual understanding. But now Cheshin has come out with his latest severe remarks, you must absolutely insist that he be relieved of his position, for he has disqualified himself."

Chairman of the Likud party in the Knesset, MK Reuven Rivlin also related to the issue in the Knesset plenum last week and said that Cheshin must apologize and explain this remarks. He must say that they were merely a slip of the tongue, and were said unintentionally. "If Cheshin really meant what he said," Rivlin continued, "I think that he must be taken to task. . ."

In an interview widely reported in the media, Attorney Yoram Sheftel, to whom the remarks were originally directed, said, "If in the future I represent a chareidi Jew or body in the High Court that has the bad luck to be judged before a panel including Justice Mishael Cheshin, without the slightest hesitation I will ask Justice Cheshin to disqualify himself."

At the meeting of the Central Elections Committee held on 17 Kislev, members of the committee presidium expressed their support of Justice Cheshin, who is the committee chairman and who was present at the meeting. According to various reports, the chairman requested the support of the members of the committee due to what he called, "the attacks of the chareidim." The press reported that among the members of the committee who expressed their support was MK Yehuda Avidan of Shas.

Shas' standing behind Justice Cheshin aroused much anger among the Torah observant community, since Cheshin's remarks regarding the rights of Torah and mitzvah observant Jews in the country apply to many people who voted for that party.

Rabbi Ravitz said that he is very puzzled by the behavior of the Shas representative Yehuda Avidan who, instead of expressing support for the judge, should at least have expressed his reservations about Justice Cheshin's remarks. "Evidently all this does bother Justice Cheshin, who is the first judge who has ever asked that confidence in him be expressed. Apparently he feels uncomfortable about the affair. However, he should apologize instead of seeking the support of the members of the Elections Committee."

Rabbi Moshe Gafni said: "It is a scandal to back Cheshin, after his having made so noxious a statement -- a scandal and a betrayal of the chareidi sector."

The demands to dismiss Justice Cheshin were joined by MK Yuval Steinitz from Likud, president of the Federation of the Public's Right to Know. Steinitz said: "Justice Cheshin is profoundly antagonistic to the chareidi sector. This hatred has the capacity to harm his judicial objectivity. It is wrong for him to head the Elections Committee for the 16th Knesset. Justice Cheshin must apologize publicly, and must be dismissed immediately from his position as the chairman of the Central Elections Committee."

 

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