The Judicial Complaints Commissioner for Judges, retired Judge Asher Kula, ruled in a decision published that a magistrate court judge showed one-sided sensitivity in a judicial ruling concerning relatives of Walid Daka, an attacker convicted of the murder of the late soldier Moshe Tamam and who died in prison.
The criticism concerned the wording of the decision in a hearing held after an altercation between members of Daka's family and police during the dismantling of a mourning tent erected at the family's home.
The judge wrote in his ruling, "It would have been possible and appropriate to contain the event," and noted that it was an event "that carries sensitivities both with regard to the feelings of the family of the deceased and other sensitivities related to the identity of the deceased."
According to the commissioner's decision, that wording "creates a sense of containment and balance between situations and factors that are not symmetric," and ignores the context - the actions of a person convicted of committing a grave murder.
It also stated that the repeated use of the term "the deceased" in connection to Daka could create an appearance of respect or sympathy toward someone who carried out acts of terror.
The commissioner noted that in other rulings, judges avoided using this term for attackers and used only neutral language.
In his decision Commissioner Kula emphasized that he does not intend to interfere with judicial discretion, but added, "It would have been expected of the judge that just as he criticized the police's lack of sensitivity toward the family, he should act with sensitivity toward those harmed by the acts of that attacker."
Betsalmo CEO Shai Glick said, "I welcome the commissioner's decision which severely criticizes the behavior of the judge who calls the attacker 'the deceased' and repeatedly shows sensitivity to the attacker's family. I am very sorry that even today the judge, instead of understanding his mistake, continues to claim that the attacker is 'deceased' and that this is an event sensitive to the attacker's family. Unfortunately, instead of Israeli judges emphasizing sensitivity to the families of IDF's fallen, the judge chooses to emphasize sensitivity to the families of attackers. Such a person, especially after the October 7th massacre, is not fit to adjudicate and I hope he will never be promoted again."