Lawyer Etti Kharif, who was at the center of the affair in which the former chairman of the Bar Association, Adv. Efi Neve, was accused, refers in an interview to Channel 7 to the current turmoil in the Bar Association with the resignation of the chairman, Adv. Avi Himi.
Regarding the changes required in the Bar Association, she says that “first and foremost, it is necessary to hold elections of the most worthy person to lead the Bar Association, since it is a vital and important body whose position affects not only the community of lawyers in Israel, but also all the citizens of Israel.”
“According to her, it is important to preserve the strength of the bar in the committee for appointing judges. This is a figure that affects all citizens of Israel in one way or another. There is no reason to disband the bar beyond the selection of the right person to head it,” says Kharif.
To the question of the motives behind the recent publications surrounding the personal and professional conduct of Attorney Avi Yami, Kharif says that she does not know the source of the publication and the motives for it, “but I know that it should be investigated, and as far as it is true that Avi Hami used the power of his position to take advantage of a lawyer subordinate to him or Despite it, it is apparently a criminal offense and has nothing to do with the motive. If it is an affair and agreement between two adults, the voyeurism will end up finding its outlet elsewhere.”
In Kharif’s opinion, if it is indeed a consensual long-term relationship between two graduates and this relationship has nothing to do with the appointment or recommendation given by Himi to that lawyer, then he has been wronged. “Of course, he shouldn’t recommend his mistress to the judge, that’s a matter in itself, but the shaming pushes the boundaries a bit. Sometimes it’s a yellow matter that goes out of proportion to satisfy the voyeuristic urge of the public, and the injustice caused to my father and his family members is too much to bear. As someone who went through it, I can To say that this is hell on earth and not everyone can get out of it.”
Kharif was also asked her opinion on the issue of the reform led by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, and she answered with a clear declaration that “I am in favor of the reform of the judicial system, even if not comprehensively”. In addition to this, she says that “this government was elected, among other things, on the basis of the agenda of changing the judicial system. The power in the hands of the judicial elite is too much and there is no reason and no need for the judges to run the country. That’s why there are elected officials. Sometimes the intoxication of power goes out of all proportion . For some reason the criticism of this body is a scarecrow and toothless. Both lawyers and judges make mistakes and they too can and should be criticized. This is a legal reform in its place even if I disagree with some technical data such as the proposed majority for the overcoming clause”
In her opinion, the way judges are selected must change. “What reason should judges be given a majority? So that they choose their family members and their legal assistants and continue to make combinations in the voting? There is a Gordian bond of silence between them and the judges they choose. I was in a course for training judges and saw the selection of the son of and the assistant of and the friends of For years, the Gordian connection between the supreme judges and the judges who are appointed is a clear and well-known connection and for some reason it went under the radar. When Efi Neve and Ayelet Shaked tried to change the system, it became out of order.”