The Tel Aviv District Court dismissed retired judge Etty Karif's lawsuit against Hadas Steif and Julius Rosenberg, the security expert, and Army Radio.
The prosecution's case centered on the plaintiff, a retired judge, of granting favors to Adv. Efi Naveh, then head of the Israel Bar Association, in order to promote her case in the Judicial Appointments Committee. According to the arguments of the parties, divorce proceedings took place between Adv. Naveh and his ex-wife, Ms. Hani Naveh.
Former head of the Israel Bar Association, Efi Naveh, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Old cell phones that Adv. Naveh used in the past remained in their shared home. Around December 2018, Hani Naveh transferred the devices to Steif, according to them, because Ms. Naveh wanted to find materials in them that would help her in the divorce dispute. Steif was assisted by Rosenberg in opening the devices and exposing the materials in them, when it was discovered that the devices contained, inter alia, correspondence between the plaintiff and Adv. Naveh, which allegedly indicate that they had an intimate relationship, inter alia during the period when the plaintiff sought to be appointed to a judicial position, while Adv. Naveh serves as chairman of the bar association and is involved in her appointment while concealing the connection between them.
In addition, additional cases were allegedly discovered that raise suspicion of exploitation of Adv. Naveh's status and raise suspicions of bribery and/or fraud and breach of trust. When she discovered that Taif was reflected in the materials found, she reported it to the commander of the Israel Defense Forces, Shimon Elkabetz, and a team of journalists was set up at the station to examine the materials. At the end of the day, in consultation with the legal counsel in the High Court of Justice, and after a conversation with senior officials in the State Prosecutor's Office, she transferred the materials to the Israel Police because they raised suspicions of criminal acts and offenses in the process of appointing judges in Israel.
Hadas Steif, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
Karif claimed for heavy damages caused to her by the defendants, as a result of unlawful taking and hacking into Adv. Naveh's mobile phones and reviewing and distributing the private correspondence between her and Adv. Naveh. These acts, it was claimed, severely violated her privacy and led to a flawed and selective criminal proceeding against her, which began with great fanfare accompanied by a disproportionate media echo, and later ended with nothing.
The defendants denied the prosecution's claims, including the claim that the phones were unlawfully hacked, that the plaintiff's privacy was violated and that the investigation against her was conducted unlawfully, and insisted on the public interest in clarifying the serious affair and exposing the flaws that occurred in the process of appointing the plaintiff to a judicial position.
In the end, Judge Eliyahu Bachar dismissed the lawsuit due to statute of limitations, estoppel and motives.
and found no room to consider the other arguments of the parties for summary dismissal and the merits of the suit. As stated, he charged Karif NIS 30,<> in expenses.
Avi Cohen, Law
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