Vandals slash tires on J’lem judge’s car

For third time in six months, Anna Schneider is targeted.

By DAN IZENBERG
The four tires of Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge Anna Schneider’s car were  slashed for the third time in the past six months, a Courts Administration spokesperson said Sunday.
The vandal or vandals also scrawled a threatening message on the hood of her car which said, “You and Beinisch equal murder.” The first attack on Schneider’s car was made in September 2009. One day earlier, the tires of the Magistrate’s Court registrar, Uri Poni, were also slashed. And on the same day that Schneider’s car was attacked for the first time, the tires of another Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge, Rachel Shalev-Gertel, were also slashed. Schneider’s tires were slashed again one week after the first incident. On October 25, Poni’s tires were slashed again.
Thus Saturday night’s attack was the sixth against Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judges in the past six months.
The latest attack on Schneider’s car follows on the heels of a series of attacks in other parts of the country against judges, including Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch.
Speaking on Army Radio on Sunday morning, Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman said, “We must fight against this phenomenon. We must eradicate it and severely punish the perpetrators. Every citizen in Israel must know that this is not child’s play but an attack on the basic foundations of the state. The State of Israel will not survive one day without a strong, objective and unassailable judiciary.” Neeman refused to comment on the investigation of Deputy Jerusalem District Attorney Uri Korb, the prosecutor in the trial of former prime minister Ehud Olmert. Korb was ordered to take a leave of absence from the Justice Ministry and did not attend the opening day of witness testimony last week, because of derogatory comments he made about the judiciary, allegedly saying that many judges were “asses” and that the system was full of “stupidity and rot.”
However, Neeman remarked that if people in responsible positions suchas Korb make such statements about the judges, people with lessunderstanding of the legal system and its importance will follow suit.
“If the mighty have succumbed, how shall the weak emerge unscathed?” hesaid, quoting from the Talmud. “If the deputy Jerusalem districtattorney speaks like that about the court and the judges, what more canwe do to prevent this tsunami? This shows contempt for the judicialsystem. The man on the street says – if a senior prosecutor can dothat, there is a message here [for everyone] to do it.”
 On January 27, during a Supreme Court hearing, Pini Cohen stood up andhurled a shoe at Beinisch, striking her in the eye and knocking her offher chair. Two weeks later, on February 8, unknown assailants torchedthe car of Haifa District Court judge Moshe Gilad.