Last weekend, grabbed for a few moments the headlines and public attention for a slightly bizarre event.
According to details published in the media, well-known chef Tom Aviv hit a citizen named Yaakov Dego because the latter allegedly abused a dog he owned outside Aviv's chef restaurant.
The two were taken for questioning and later released.
The initial publications painted in bright colors the character played by each of the partners in the event.
Dego is cast as the evil man, who abused a helpless dog.
Aviv got to play the noble hero, who does not stand aside and goes out to defend the unfortunate animal.
In his Instagram profile, Aviv claimed: "I arrested a man who severely abused his dog outside Coco (Coco Bambino, Aviv's restaurant; AP), along with dozens of eyewitnesses to the case."
Members of Knesset and others were quick to take pictures and express support for the spring, as did many on social media.
A few days passed, and in the show "The Pipe" (Network 13) it was revealed that Aviv had not seen the dog attack - which is not at all certain to have occurred.
Dego himself was taken for a polygraph examination, in which a truth-teller came out on the question of whether he had indeed attacked his dog.
On the face of it, this is an esoteric story, but it once again teaches about the death of the presumption of innocence in Israel in the age of social media, and about the way an event whose details are unknown and whose facts have not yet been clarified can turn a person into a villain.
According to the practice in our districts, the public struggle to preserve a person's good name until proven guilty is reserved for heavy cases, which usually include senior figures, such as those behind a large crowd of fans, who refuse to accept the person becoming guilty until proven innocent.
In practice, the current reality - where the suspicion against a person becomes headlines and convicting tweets detached from what he did or did not do - seeps into the little person on the street, who goes for a walk with the dog, runs in the park or hangs out with friends, and may find himself targeted.
Hence the short way to becoming a violent offender without him knowing he is such (and in many cases he is indeed not).
If in the past it took at least documentation, long-term detention or an indictment to ruin everyone's life - then now, all it takes is a plot with viral potential, a spicy story with vague facts and little good timing, to drag even an innocent person into the mud .
Sometimes such an occurrence can also blacken the image of someone who has already died.
The presumption of innocence has become something of the past, an ancient relic from a time when a person's good name and cleanliness as such were an indisputable right.
If we do not resurrect her quickly, her absence will avenge us all in the future.
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