Bar association summons Netanyahus’ lawyer for disciplinary hearing
Yossi Cohen given a month to respond to complaint by judiciary before facing possible punishment
Israel’s bar association on Monday decided to summon Sara Netanyahu’s attorney for a disciplinary hearing over remarks he made last week disparaging a judge.
In the complaint against attorney Yossi Cohen, the court system’s lawyer said that Cohen’s comments about Judge Dita Proginin in response to her ruling against the prime minister’s wife last month were “harsh and irresponsible.”
Both the Israel Bar Association and the state Judicial Authority upbraided Cohen, a long-time associate of the Netanyahu family, last week for a series of statements against Proginin, the president of the National Labor Court, suggesting she had been influenced by a campaign against Sara Netanyahu.
“Statements like these are unacceptable and they need to be denounced and opposed,” the bar association said last week.
Similarly, the Judicial Authority released a statement calling the comments “irresponsible,” and said it planned to lodge an official complaint against Cohen with the bar association.
In a letter to Cohen issued Sunday, the ethics committee said his remarks were a clear breach of the ethical code of the bar association, which would consider disciplinary action against him. He was given 30 days to submit his response to the organization’s ethics committee.
Last Tuesday Proginin awarded NIS 120,000 ($31,000) in damages to a former employee of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence, ruling that Sara Netanyahu had mistreated him with verbal abuse and unreasonable demands. In her ruling, Proginin described Mrs. Netanyahu’s behavior toward her employees as “unreasonable and humiliating.”
In a statement released immediately after the ruling, Cohen rejected the decision and said the case had “been handled in a one-sided manner.”
“The real abusive treatment is that of Judge Proginin, who, as expected, again blatantly ignored the testimony of Mrs. Netanyahu,” he said, announcing that his team would appeal the ruling.
Challenged over his comments by Channel 2 news that evening, Cohen doubled down on the criticism, saying that Proginin “did not preside over the case in a fair way.”
“A concerted effort of indoctrination [against Sara Netanyahu] and a daily effort to sully her name with deceitful claims over years has clearly pervaded some people’s judgment,” he said.
The Judicial Authority defended Proginin and said it was “repulsed by the severe and irresponsible comments.” In unprecedented language, a statement released by the state body, which represents the country’s courts and judges, said Cohen’s comments were “part of an effort to intimidate the courts regarding the case of the Prime Minister’s Residence.”
The statement said the Judicial Authority would file an official complaint with the Israel Bar Association.
The association, which has legal authority to discipline and disbar lawyers over ethical matters, said it would not tolerate such statements toward a judge.
“Incitement and slander toward [Proginin], who has no way of responding, cannot be accepted,” it said.
“The Israel Bar Association plays an integral role in the rule of law and therefore feels an obligation to protect the justice system and oppose statements that stray from the boundaries of acceptable criticism,” the letter concluded. There was no mention of disciplinary action.
Responding to the criticism, Cohen penned a retraction, which he requested be distributed to the press by the Prime Minister’s Office, saying he did not intend to personally offend Proginin.
“My criticism of the court focused on the specific legal process that damaged the rights of Mrs. Netanyahu by preventing her from bringing witnesses… I am sorry if my words were understood differently,” he wrote.
