Netanyahu’s new spokesperson facing suspension by Bar Association

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new acting spokesman, Ziv Agmon, has been suspended by the Israel Bar Association’s disciplinary court for violation of the duty of loyalty to a client and behavior that is unbecoming of a lawyer, Hebrew media reports.

Agmon’s suspension was supposed to have taken affect on July 1, but he has appealed the ruling to the Jerusalem District Court, which has frozen the suspension until it issues a final ruling on the matter.

Agmon was found guilty of the allegations by the Bar Association’s court back in April. The court ruled that within the framework of a property purchase, he had transferred NIS 1.7 million from a trust fund of a client to a seller before receiving the necessary permits, Ynet reports.

Agmon claimed that he had not been actively working in the law firm, run by his mother, at the time, and that the transfer had been made mistakenly by a clerk in the company.

The court rejected these claims, and ruled that the transfer “was not a good-faith mistake,” adding that Agmon had acted in “a totally unacceptable manner,” and operated “with colossal negligence,” toward his client.

Agmon was appointed as Netanyahu’s news acting spokesperson after his predecessor, Omer Dostri, was fired, reportedly because he clashed with Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, though the Prime Minister’s Office has denied the claim.