In the small hall of Judge Aviim Barkai at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, fifteen people gathered today (Sunday) to hear whether the words tweeted by former Deputy State Attorney Yehuda Shafer against Eli Tzipori (full disclosure: Tzipori often teases me on Twitter BA): Sages be careful with your words! Read about an atmosphere of terror and verbal violence against lawyers and journalists on the part of [Eli Tzipori] in the Netanyahu trial," constitute libel.
And even though it was clear to everyone present in the small hall that this was a big waste of time, everyone showed up.
The plaintiff Eli Tzipori and his wife Batya.
The defendant Yehuda Shafer, six attorneys (three for each side), five journalists and one judge who tried to navigate through all the emotions this trial brought up.
Once again, the press entered the hall through the main door.
Tzipori Wasfer/Flash 90, Moshe Shai, Niv Aharonson
The most prominent and repulsive of them, Eli Tzipori from "Maariv", was stationed regularly in the courtroom.
He didn't come just to survey.
It seems that his main goal is to use psychological terror against the prosecutors and the "recruited" media people
Tzipori filed the lawsuit against Shafer at the end of 2022, following a tweet in which Shafer shared an article by Gidi Weitz of Haretz in which it was claimed that "defendant number 1 surely knows that his and the lawyers' washed-up messages will have a resonance box that they will obsessively pump and using adjectives that make the message stink. There are several of them Among us. The most prominent and repulsive of them, Eli Tzipori from "Maariv", was stationed regularly in the courtroom. He didn't come just to cover. It seems that his main goal is to exert mental terror against the prosecutors and the "recruited" media members. He usually brings his cell phone inches away from them of the prosecutors and journalists, to follow them, to embarrass them, to harass them even when he is asked to stop. He then publishes the close-up photos of the "conspirators" and the "sewers" accompanied by adjectives, each of which would have earned him heavy expenses in a libel trial."
Today, journalism once again entered the courtroom through the front door.
Tzipori came up to testify and repeatedly answered the questions of attorney Yuval Yoaz, who in his previous 'incarnation' was a journalist at Globes under Tzipori, who has not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit against Weitz, which is why we have come this far.
"Vanities and bad moods".
Birds on Kalman Libeskind/screenshot, screenshot
A place of honor for Kalman Libeskind
But not only Gidi Weitz starred today in Tzipori's testimony, a place of honor was also reserved for Kalman Libeskind from the "Kan" and "Mamariv" broadcasting corporation.
Attorney Yoaz asked Tzipori: "In your affidavit, you referred to Libeskind's article, you brought it as a reinforcement against the other sentences that are not you, the reasonable person understands that Kalman's text is acceptable to you.
So let's read what Kalman says about you, the defiant Yoaz: "You once saw the videos of Eli Tzipori in court, who was once a respected journalist at the Globes and a harsh critic of Netanyahu, has discovered the light in recent years since a group of tweets of those who do not align with bibism And attacks and distorts the names of those who do not like him, tweets unflattering pictures of them and pastes names on them."
To this Tzipori replied: "It's a vivid description of what happens in court, but Kalman doesn't come to the hearings. Everything he wrote there is nonsense and bad temper."
At the end of the testimony, Attorney Yoaz tried to understand who is funding Tzipori's work today, to which Tzipori replied: "The open studio initially financed my arrival at the thousands cases, after we parted ways and I left the studio, we raised from crowdfunding.
Very simply, whoever claims out of court that there is a connection between my financing and Netanyahu will receive a libel suit."
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Shafer: "Unfortunately, I'm lonely because others are afraid"
After a short break, the defendant, Yehuda Shafer, came forward to testify.
who explained to attorney Ohad Mahrez (Tzipori's attorney) why he tweeted the tweet about which we all gathered today: "When I read Weitz's article it connected me to the reality that I am aware of, which I did not believe we would reach, when I retired from the prosecutor's office I did not at all think that I would tweet or I will open pending cases.
How does it connect?
This connects to the same public atmosphere that Liat Ben Ari, the prosecutor in the Alfis and her son cases, had when she was walking around with a security guard."
Mahrez tried to understand why Shafer did not seek a response from Tzipori before he tweeted.
Shafer:
"I did not write about Mr. Tzipori, I wrote a broad tweet about what was happening in the hall
It connected to me the same threatening atmosphere against the lawyers who are soldiers against corruption, they fight for all of us, they chase them, they hang out with security guards and I, as a lawyer, am unfortunately alone because others are afraid of being chased.
My tweet is a cry I don't want to live in a country where lawyers and journalists are threatened.
Mahrez asked:
"After October 7, don't you think we all saw what terrorism is, don't you think the word terrorism is unnecessary?"
Shafer replied:
"First of all, it says an atmosphere of terror, and this is based on what Gidi Weitz wrote. No one pays attention, when it says an atmosphere of terror and verbal violence, no one would think that this is terrorism, as you imply."
At one point, Mahrez opened Pandora's box when he asked Shafer: "When you interviewed Mr. Tzipori several times, did you think he was a journalist?"
Shafer replied: "My impression is that he has a process. Any reasonable person who reads his tweets about the Netanyahu trial, the one-sidedness of the blunt language, cannot be called a journalist today."
Judge Barkai, who understood what had happened, saved the situation and gently asked Shafer: "Can you say in one sentence, why can't birds be called journalists?".
Shafer replied:
"I certainly don't judge the journalistic level of such and such a person, certainly according to what was judged in the case of Tsipri, everything that happens in this trial, 100% of the witnesses, everything that happens there only weakens the prosecution and only strengthens the defense."
Anyone can call themselves a journalist.
Judge Yitzhak Amit/photo processing, Reuven Castro
Who is a journalist?
Judge Barkai added:
On the question of who is a journalist, there is a book by Judge Yitzhak Amit about immunities and on page 850 there is a reference to the fact that basically anyone who happens to be a journalist is a journalist.
He gives explanations and in the end he comes to the conclusion that anyone can call himself a journalist.
From there the discussion continued.
Mahrez:
"Who are you following who is covering the Netanyahu trial?".
Shafer:
"I follow Orli Bar Lev, there are the transcriptions of Adon Ashkenazi (full disclosure: me) who is here and transcribing."
Then Shafer slammed:
"Is there one serious journalist who will write that the prosecutor's office is a criminal organization?"
Mahrez turned to another path:
"Why didn't you ask the attorneys to come testify?"
At this point, Shafer finished with an accurate description of what everyone in the hall felt: the "last thing I would want to do to any of my former friends is to bring them to this nightmare."
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