The Netanya Regional Court annulled a unilateral agreement that it itself had approved two years earlier • The investigation of the incident shows that the woman blackmailed her husband
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The Netanya Regional Court annulled a unilateral divorce agreement, which it itself had approved two years earlier, due to the exposure of a dramatic extortion incident. The husband, a former senior IDF officer, told the court the reason why he chose to agree to sign the agreement that deprived him of his property and charged him excessive alimony.
In the course of his duties, the officer was on an IDF mission abroad. One night, he opened the door of his hotel room and found his wife posing as a foreign woman with two sturdy men with her. The woman brought with her a binder with embarrassing materials about her husband as well as a document in which he pledged a divorce. She also informed him that if he refused to sign she would reveal to the commander, who is a general in the IDF, the contents of the binder. The husband agreed to give up his property and pay very high alimony.
When they returned to Israel, the husband and wife submitted the divorce agreement signed to the Rabbinical Court in Netanya. The judges approved it and issued the couple a dismissal on the basis of the agreement.
A year later, the divorcee received a final notice of his resignation from the IDF after more than 25 years of service. In her name, it was also revealed to him that she withdrew NIS 160,000 from the parties' account and hid from him that she owned an expensive plot of land that she had purchased in the center of the country.
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So what does a divorce agreement include?
The dayan Rabbi Uriel noted in the ruling that the case of extortion by threats for a divorce is ancient and already appears in the Gemara in Tractate Bava Batra where there is controversy as to whether extortion for the purpose of obtaining a divorce is permitted. Rabbi Uriel added that in light of the fact that the agreement is extremely unilateral, there is proof that the agreement was not made voluntarily, even though the husband asked the court to approve the agreement he signed. In the end, the judge decided in his ruling to cancel the divorce agreement and the transfer of the property to the woman, as well as to cancel the alimony charge.
The rabbinical court ruled that the divorce claim was accepted, and that the divorce agreement was annulled. It should be emphasized that the act of divorce itself and the granting of the divorce by the husband - is not void, and the wife is considered divorced from the moment the divorce is given to her. The halakhic-legal debate revolves only around the validity of the financial agreement.
