Complaints Chief Says Political Events Should Not Be Held in Judges’ Homes

Israel’s public complaints commissioner for judges, retired Justice Asher Kula, rejected a complaint filed after a News 14 report about an event at the home of Judge Yifat Mishori, a magistrate’s court judge in Afula. The complaint followed the broadcaster’s disclosure that a political-style gathering had taken place at her home, and Kula issued his decision on Thursday.

Kula dismissed the complaint after accepting Mishori’s account that she did not know about the event in advance, did not attend it, and had no role in organizing it. On that basis, he found no ethical violation by the judge herself.

At the same time, Kula made a broader point: a political conference in a judge’s home is inappropriate and, as a rule, should not be held there. He said such an event can harm the standing of the judiciary and public trust in it, even if the judge was absent and did not arrange the gathering.

He added that, although the ethics rules do not apply to judges’ spouses, that does not remove the concern over the appearance of justice. Because a judge’s home is identified with the judge’s public role, Kula said a political event there may damage confidence in the court system even if only a spouse initiated it. He also said it is hard to believe a political gathering could take place in a shared home without the judge knowing, and cited a prior ethics ruling that banned political signs on a judge’s home, saying that if political symbols are barred outside the house, then political meetings should be avoided inside it as well. Kula ultimately accepted Mishori’s explanation that the event was actually a social gathering of her partner and not a political conference, with no politicians present.