The 60-year-old man who threw a shoe at Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch and hit her in the head will remain in custody until the end of the proceedings against him.



The grave decision was handed down by Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Alexander Ron, who said that the accused “threw his shoe not only at Her Honor the Supreme Court President and hit her, but at the entire Supreme Court and rule of law in Israel, trying to hit them as well.”

Pinchas Cohen threw his shoe at Beinisch eleven days ago during a hearing in which he was not involved. He yelled out that the court and judges had destroyed his life. He later said he regretted hitting her, but admitted that it was in revenge for the perceived injustice perpetrated against him during his divorce proceedings. Shortly after his arrest for throwing the shoe, he was speedily indicted.

Judge Ron explained his harsh decision by saying, “The court must sound its voice clearly and unambiguously… The danger presented by the accused is of utmost gravity in several ways, and under these circumstances there is no room to consider an alternative to incarceration.”

Jerusalem attorney Naftali Wurtzberger, asked to comment on the severity of the interim punishment, told Israel National News, “The atmosphere is grave, and the act [of throwing a shoe] is also grave… In general, the severity of a crime is not a reason to keep a person in jail until the end of the legal proceedings; an alternative to incarceration should generally be found. It appears clear that both the media and the judges are influenced by the fact that the shoe-throwing targeted the Chief Justice; judges are human beings, too… On the other hand, there is a sense that Cohen is obsessive and could possibly do the same thing again.”



Asked why Cohen could simply not be distanced from courtrooms, Wurtzberger agreed that this could have been an option: “Perhaps they were afraid that he would attack a judge outside a courtroom… I’m not sure why they did not give him house arrest.”

During the court session today, Cohen asked to speak but was not granted permission. He then yelled out, “They’re making it easy for themselves, they’re not letting me speak! I want to tell about the tricks that were played against me, headed by the Supreme Court. They silenced me for four years and treat me like a second-rate citizen.”

Cohen’s lawyers said they plan to appeal: “We will study the decision, which appears to us to be not reasonable. He is not so dangerous that an alternative cannot be found.”