The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday dismissed the indictment filed by the State Prosecutor's Office against Likud activist Rami Ben Yehuda for threatening Deputy State Prosecutor Liat Ben Ari. Judge Gabay-Richter ruled that, contrary to the prosecution's opinion, the facts do not constitute an offense at all. The judge commented to the prosecution and ruled that Ben Yehuda's remarks against Ben Ari were political statements and that freedom of expression should be preferred to Ben-Ari's peace of mind.
One of the videos at the center of the indictment:
The No. 1 menace takes off his gloves. Looking for Tomer Shwicky, Liat Ben-Ari's son. This, after the court issued an order against threatening harassment, in the exact same matter, against Orly Lev. They are not afraid of anything. They know why. By the way, if anyone encounters the above directors, let them update: the guy you are looking for has just received a fighter pin in an elite unit. pic.twitter.com/mrnQYcGdsb
— Ben Caspit (@BenCaspit) December 4, 2022
In 2020, Ben Yehuda uploaded a video in which he addressed Liat Ben Ari in light of the request for a threatening harassment order offered to another activist, Orly Lev, and said, "Did you see in Orly Lev's trial what a state attorney was nominated for? Chief Prosecutor? Going for a tweet! So I'll say – hello, where's your son? Can you tell us where your son disappeared? Shwicky Where did he disappear? Ben Ari's grave?... What did they waste seven hours on? About
a post Orly wrote? Where is Shawki? Tomer Shuki Where are you? We're looking for you! Hello!
Liat Ben Ari's son, you, come tell us what the problem is..."
Liat Ben Ari, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
The indictment alleges that the video constitutes an offense of threats against Ben Ari. Judge Gabay-Richter dismissed the indictment and ruled the opposite: "After considering the matters, I am satisfied that the defense's argument that the indictment does not reveal an offense must be accepted. There is no possibility of convicting the defendant of the offense attributed to him, and the indictment does not constitute an adequate basis for convicting the defendant of the offense of threats."
The judge ruled regarding the video that the statements were clearly made in the context of expressing a political opinion, with the bulk of the video (which lasted 41 minutes) not dealing with this issue at all, and therefore the statements
made, according to a 'quantitative' examination of them, constitute only a handful of the entire video. This is
written on the basis of what is described in the indictment, which reflects the accuser's method. And since this is the point of view, the principle of freedom of expression should be preferred over other protected principles, such as the peace of mind of the person (one of the values protected in the offense of threats), and therefore the act or expression must be clearly threatening – one that will cross the criminal threshold. But that is not the case before us."
Likud member Rami Ben Yehuda, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Adv. Eden Poltkin, who represented Rami Ben Yehuda on behalf of the Public Defender's Office, who was accused of threatening Adv. Liat Ben Ari: "We welcome the court's decision that accepted our arguments and ordered the dismissal of the indictment. From the very beginning of the proceedings, they argued that what was said did not amount to an offense of threats. The court took into account that these were statements made as part of the defendant's political opinion, which also included criticism of the prosecution authorities. We expect the prosecution to exercise discretion in filing such indictments in order to prevent infringement of freedom of expression."
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