According to a Ynet report, Supreme Court presidential candidate Yitzhak Amit has been involved in legal proceedings in recent years concerning his property in Tel Aviv, but appears in these cases under his former last name, Goldfreind, and the court administration was not notified of this as required.
During this time, as a Supreme Court judge, Amit presided over cases involving the lawyers who represented him, the municipality that accused him, and the promotion of a judge handling a potential government renovation project for the property, Ynet reported.
The judiciary issued a response saying Judge Amit had granted power of attorney to his brother, who signed documents on his behalf and was unaware of the existence of the legal proceedings.
MK Tali Gotliv (Likud) tweeted: “Yitzhak Amit should not only be disqualified from becoming the President of the Supreme Court, but he is unfit to serve as a Magistrate’s Court judge! I challenge anyone in the State of Israel to argue that a person exhibiting fraudulent behavior should hold such a position. The court administration’s defense of “he didn’t know” portrays Amit as either incompetent or assumes that the public is gullible. But here’s the truth: we are not fools, and we won’t accept this explanation.”
Ynet has uncovered that in recent years, Judge Yitzhak Amit has been involved in multiple civil legal proceedings related to an apartment he co-owns with his brother in south Tel Aviv. In these cases, he used his former name, Yitzhak Goldfreind, without reporting this fact, and without the lawyers representing him being aware they were working for a Supreme Court judge.
In one of these proceedings, an indictment was even filed against Amit by his pseudonym. Also, a judge who was involved in one of these cases appeared before the Judicial Selection Committee as a judicial candidate recommended by the Supreme Court judges while Amit was a member of the committee.
At the same time, Judge Amit allegedly presided over cases involving the law firm that represented him and his brother, as well as a case involving the Tel Aviv Municipality, which was conducting legal proceedings regarding the property he owned.
Judge Amit and his brother, Hanoch Dov Goldfreind, jointly own property in a building at 18 Eilat Street, situated on the border between the Florentine neighborhood and Jaffa in south Tel Aviv. Although the building is old, it holds economic potential due to the possibility of being included in a government renovation program.
In 2018, the Tel Aviv Municipality reached out to the apartment owners in the building, including Judge Amit, via registered mail, which was received. The municipality informed them of safety hazards within the building and their obligation to address these issues.
Since the safety violations were not addressed, the municipality filed a criminal indictment in 2019 against the owners of apartments in the building in the Tel Aviv Local Affairs Court of Tel Aviv – including against Supreme Court judge Yitzhak Amit by his current name (he was defendant number 27).
However, in a surprising turn of events, the municipality reportedly informed the local court in May of that year that it was withdrawing the indictment only against Judge Yitzhak Amit while continuing to proceed against his brother and the other tenants. Due to the sudden withdrawal of the indictment, Amit’s name was removed from the list of defendants online.
Ynet claimed that according to Judge Amit, he was aware that the municipality had filed an indictment against him, yet he continued to sit on two cases in the Supreme Court in which the Tel Aviv municipality was involved.
The revelation by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth Monday morning that Supreme Court presidential candidate Justice Yitzhak Amit was involved in civil legal proceedings under his former name without disclosing it has sparked outrage in Israel’s political system, mostly on the right. This has led to calls for his candidacy for the presidency of the Supreme Court to be rescinded.
The Im Tirtzu movement has appealed to the Judicial Complaints Commission and members of the Judicial Selection Committee, urging them to halt the promotion of Judge Amit’s appointment as Supreme Court president until the investigation into his case is completed and clear answers are provided to the serious allegations against him.
