Ethics Commissioner Finds Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen Violated Conduct Rules in Women’s Forum Activity

The Public Complaints Commissioner for Judges, retired judge Asher Cola, ruled that complaints against Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen were justified due to ethical breaches in her conduct. The decision, announced on Thursday, followed complaints about her membership and activity in a WhatsApp group linked to the Women Lawyers Forum of the Women’s Lobby, which includes 516 participants. The complaints were filed by several organizations and individuals, including the Forum for the Rule of Law and Democracy, the Movement for Governance and Democracy, the B’Tselem organization, Im Tirtzu, and lawyers Eran Ben Ari and Kinneret Barashi.

Among the issues examined was a post by Agmon-Gonen promoting academic ads from the Academic Center for Law and Business, where she added the phrase "for your attention," which the commissioner saw as an operational directive within a politically active legal body rather than mere information sharing. Another case involved her recommendation of attorney Tomer Versha, who appears before her in immigration cases. Although she claimed the recommendation was intended as a private message and sent to the group by mistake, the commissioner found this compromised the appearance of judicial impartiality and gave the lawyer an unfair professional advantage.

Judge Agmon-Gonen argued the group was a closed professional forum and that the complaints were part of a smear campaign aimed at preventing her from handling immigration cases. The commissioner rejected the claim that the group was closed, citing its size and the political nature of its discussions. He concluded that a sitting judge’s active participation in such a forum crosses ethical boundaries, but stopped short of recommending disciplinary action or removal from the bench.

The commissioner recommended that the court administration clarify rules regarding judges’ participation in social media and issuing endorsements of lawyers. He also advised that Agmon-Gonen sever ties with the Women Lawyers Forum. The ruling concluded that the complaints were justified and that her conduct was ethically flawed, though not warranting formal sanctions.