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Audit Reveals Major Pay Disparities and Oversight Failures in Israel's Public Defense Service

How 3 Israeli newsrooms covered this story — translated into English and compared side by side.

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First reported by Ynet · Jun 30, 2026

What happened

An audit of Israel's Public Defense Service reveals significant pay gaps between external public defenders and prosecutors, oversight failures in verifying client eligibility, and stalled reforms to recover costs from financially capable defendants.

01External public defenders earn significantly less than external prosecutors despite similar roles.
02From 2010-2024, prosecutor fees rose 79%, while defender fees rose only 21%.
03No effective checks were done to verify clients' financial eligibility for public defense.
04Public defense may have been provided to clients who could afford private lawyers.
05Special fees for complex economic crime cases cost hundreds of thousands of shekels annually.
06Legislative reforms to charge capable clients have stalled due to inter-agency disputes since 2022.

Summary translated & synthesized from the sources below by baba. Read each original for the full report.

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