TV

Etty Kreif is fluent, smart and groundbreaking - but you can't believe the word she says

"Fact" featured a mesmerizing piece of television that flirted with the yellow border but did not cross it.

It is not clear who told Judge Etty Kreif that it was a wise idea to tell her side in the "sex for appointment" affair.

It's not even clearer how you can even believe someone who says it's okay to cheat because everyone does it anyway

Living Room Fellow

28/01/2022

Friday, 28 January 2022, 06:37 Updated: 06:53

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Why should we believe her?

Kreif (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

Legendary comedian George Carlin said in one of his standup shows that there is a thought that bothers him.

"Somewhere, right now, the worst doctor in the world works," he used to say, adding: "And the scariest thought is that someone has an appointment tomorrow."

This is a good joke, and there is some truth in it.

In real emergencies, when we get to a hospital, God forbid, we can not choose who the doctor will treat us or our loved ones.

If Grandma had a heart attack in the middle of the night, we would have to trust the doctor who is currently at the hospital closest to her home.

For the training he received, for the experience he gained and for the hours of sleep he had this week between shifts.

We have no choice.

Similarly, even when we get to court, the situation is similar.

We do not choose the judge who will decide our case, but sometimes he can make fates and affect our lives no less than an open-heart surgeon.

Justice is blind, but whoever is responsible for doing justice can be the best judge in the world, and can today be a judge who has been accepted for the job thanks to a sexual relationship.

During a lengthy interview with Omri Assenheim, retired judge Etty Kreif tried to present her side in a case that has earned the popular nickname "sex for appointment."

It was a very revealing interview, flirting with the yellow border (but not crossing it), in which Kreif clarified very clearly and transparently the timeline that began her ambitious journey towards the judge's robe, through her sexual relationship with Effie Naveh and her surprising appointment to the post after his intervention Of one who was one of the most powerful people in the world of Israeli law until a few years ago.

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Love Cinderella stories.

Kreif (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

Television and cinema have accustomed us to the bad of a certain kind and to the good of a certain kind.

In James Bond movies the villains will always be grotesque.

They will have a strange lameness, a pronounced stutter, a lazy eye, a scar on the face, a sleeping cat on its knees or an exaggerated Eastern European accent.

One can imagine Effie Naveh playing a villain in a Bond movie, maybe even in a comic book movie.

His gaze is smug, he is always surrounded by people with power and authority - and he is the one who controls them, and not the other way around.

In contrast, "his accomplice in crime," Etty Kreif, does not enter the classic evil tapecast.

This is an eloquent, ambitious woman who decided from a young age that she wanted to break the glass ceiling set for her as an Eastern woman from the periphery and became a criminal judge at a young age.

On the face of it, if we had not known what we would have known, it would have been a real Cinderella story.

It is easy to be tempted to believe in a cricket.

We love Cinderella stories.

And hello, why did she already do that?

She worked hard to become a lawyer, applied to be a judge, and took advantage of the fact that she knew one of the most influential people on the Judicial Appointments Committee to make her dream come true.

Kreif turns the mirror on to the viewers, trying to convince them that everyone was behaving like her.

We are all hypocrites.

Who among us would not use protectionism to advance in a career?

Who among us would not use relationships to get his father better care in a hospital?

Who would not pick up a phone to David who knows the hotel manager to upgrade the simple room to a suite?

This is how it is in Israel, if everyone is corrupt then no one is corrupt.

Epic Naveh (Photo: Official Website, Official Website)

This could have been a compelling argument, had it not simply been irrelevant.

In fact, Kreiff's trite choice to turn to the districts of Vatabautism only underscored how there is no moral justification for the acts she herself admits she did.

There is a difference between using the connections we all make to get good tickets for Omar Adam's appearance and appointing a judge who has failed at the assessment center for lawyers seeking to be appointed to a judicial office.

It's important to emphasize this: Kreif probably would not have become a judge had she not had ties to Naveh.

The word "probably" entered the previous sentence net of politeness.

The attitude that Kreif presents to her sexual relationship with Effi Naveh is refreshing and surprising. For a moment it seems like this is an old episode of "Sex and the City" or "Girls" and not an "fact" investigation. Kreif's claims are modern, feminist and break conventions. It is worth listening to them, because beyond the defense experience, Kreif chooses to take responsibility for her actions in connection with Naveh, and does not approach. She claims she did not "give" any sexual consideration to Effie Naveh, and that is just old-fashioned masculine thinking. The real problem for her is that she betrayed her partner and harmed her children who were exposed to her sexual exploits. But come on, we're in the 21st century, traitors. One might think she is the first.

And again, I wish her claims could have been accepted without referring to the elephant sitting in the court: the balance of power between Naveh and Kreif was very clear.

It was not just an "affair."

She: A young and anonymous lawyer with a dream known to be a judge.

He is: the head of the Bar Association, and the most influential man at the time on the Judicial Appointments Committee, which helps her fulfill her dream.

It's great that she's taking responsibility, but a woman as smart and strong as she can not claim there was a cause and effect here.

Or in other words, and sorry for the bluntness, just as not everyone who fucks is a prostitute, nor does everyone who sues deserves to be a prostitute.

The burden of sight.

Kahlon (Photo: official website, -)

Her attempt to compare a flick to a family connection only underscores the inherent problem in her relationship with Effie Naveh: it was secret. In exchange for advancing her career, Kreif asked to invite Naveh to dinner. He gave up the meal, and jumped straight into it for "dessert." Kreiff herself shifted the fog screen and revealed with an open face this all-too-problematic timeline. No one knew about this connection. Kreif did not at any stage declare a conflict of interest regarding Naveh. What would have happened if she had had to judge a case involving Neveh, one of his associates or one of his rivals (and thank God, he has a lot of these and those)? Would she have been asked to return a favor in court as she allegedly did in the bedroom? Does anyone believe that someone whose moral compass is aimed at "allowed to be corrupt if everyone is corrupt" would have done the right thing for justice or for the man to whom she owes her career?

It is not clear why Kreif agreed to this interview.

Assenheim said he tried to put her in front of a camera ten times and failed.

Why did she agree this time?

Is this closing accounts?

An attempt at revenge?

Desire to do PR for a new business she is setting up?

Or maybe an authentic desire to clear her name.

Perhaps a desire to embarrass the legal system that vomited it out of it?

In any case, the result was a foregone conclusion.

It is not clear who advised her that it is a good idea to come and expose to the public the sins she has committed in front of the Israeli public.

Who would have thought it a good idea to see her sitting and deleting in the interrogation room all her correspondence with Minister Moshe Kahlon and four other contacts.

According to her: there was no connection between her and Minister Kahlon beyond my friends, including a very unconvincing explanation for the famous sentence she wrote to Kahlon: "I am alone tonight and I really wanted to lift the burden of proof."

Of course she may be telling the truth, but how can you even believe a word of what she says if a moment ago she said it was okay to cheat because everyone does it?

Incredible work.

Assenheim (Photo: Yachz)

Ilana Dayan, the "Fact" team and especially Assenheim himself did an amazing job with the tools given to them. Eventually Assenheim sat on a chair, politely asking questions, exposing the deep decay that had taken over the rule of law system. It is sometimes hard to believe that a program at the level of "fact" comes from the same production line in the factory that brings us "The Singer in a Mask", "Ofira and Barco" or "Izat Tzadik". A channel that sanctifies instant entertainment still manages to maintain the diamond that gives its researchers breathing space and the ability to contain the story to the end without pressure. At the beginning of the show, Assenheim asks to listen to all of Crief's words before deciding Dina. A proper journalistic request. A basic human request. But in the channel that invented the culture in which Asi and Rotem shout at viewers to quickly vote in the app before the song ends to lift the screen to some contestant they have never heard, it feels the most unnatural in the world. “Fact” occasionally reminds us of how our nature is sometimes distorted in a distorted way.How lucky she is.

There are many innocent victims to this affair, including the family members of Kreif and Naveh - but it seems needless to say that the main victim of this exposure is the justice system. There are enough people who want us to lose faith in our courts, the lawyer for one of them was sitting in Ilana Dayan's studio yesterday. This knowledge did not affect the people of "fact", and it is good that it did. The justice system is important, but not sacred and certainly not above all criticism - probably justified as it was shown on screen yesterday. It's an embarrassing and shameful story, too bad it happened, but good that it's revealed.

It is important to mention that alongside the problems, the courts in Israel are full of good and reliable people, who have been appointed to their positions honestly and respectfully, having excelled in their positions, gained experience and gone through all the necessary steps before becoming judges.

But yes, there are also those who "got a score of 3" at the assessment center and still became judges, go find out for what reasons.

This is a terrible thought, just like about the bad doctor who might treat your grandmother.

Still, the system knows how to filter the weeds out, and certainly not promote them.

This is perhaps the most prominent point of light in this research.

At the end of Ovda's program, Ilana Dayan presented an old segment of retired Supreme Court President Miriam Naor, who passed away this week.

It was a beautiful closing of a television circle, reminding that there are still people who dedicate their lives to the cause of law and justice.

Too bad little people cast such a big shadow on our gatekeepers.

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