Court Appoints Trustee for Dead Businessman’s Climbing and Local Press Companies

Last week, the Tel Aviv District Court opened insolvency proceedings and appointed a permanent trustee for five companies owned by the late businessman Ariel Konik. Four of the companies operated climbing walls across Israel, and one ran a local weekly newspaper network serving the ultra-Orthodox and religious public. The group’s total debts are estimated at about 30 million shekels.

Konik had built what the court described as a broad, integrated and complex business structure in which each company played a role. Alongside his business and media work, he served as a deputy battalion commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and had been in reserve duty almost continuously since October 7. During that service, he also took part in coordinating the evacuation of bodies from the war’s attack sites and battle scenes. Konik died in March at the age of 61.

Judge Noa Grossman appointed attorney Shirly Yifrah-Azor as the permanent trustee for the five companies, Alpha Afikim Consulting and Training, Extreme and the World of Climbing (2014), Climbing and Extreme Israel 2014, Ko Attonut Datit, and the Israeli Jerusalem Climbing Center. The proceedings were initiated after applications for insolvency orders were filed by attorney Dr. Shlomo Ness, who was appointed temporary executor of Konik’s estate.

In a report filed today, the trustee said the four climbing companies ran seven climbing-wall sites in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rishon Lezion, Haifa, and Kiryat Gat. She said the operation employed about 130 people under normal conditions. Yifrah-Azor described it as a “viable business platform, with a positive reputation and potential, which was the life work of the deceased.” On the newspaper side, she said the company runs a local weekly network in the ultra-Orthodox and religious sectors, and that the publication business can and should be sold immediately through a call for bids.