Chief Justice Amit apologises over kosher-phone comment

Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit has submitted a formal response to the judicial ombudsman following complaints about remarks he made during a High Court hearing on kosher phones.

The ombudsman, Justice Asher Kula, heard the complaints today against the Chief Justice over a comment he made during a petition concerning the expansion of broadcast areas for several regional radio stations. According to the complainants, the Chief Justice's remark about holding both kosher phones and smartphones simultaneously hurt the feelings of many in the chareidi public.

In examining the complaint, the Chief Justice asked to clarify that his remarks during the hearing were not intended, chas v'shalom, to offend the chareidi sector, but rather to address a factual issue that arose in the course of the proceedings and which may be necessary and relevant to the decision.

In his full response to the ombudsman, Justice Amit clarified that his remarks during the hearing were not intended to offend the chareidi sector, but rather to address a factual issue that arose in the course of the legal proceedings. According to him, the phenomenon of simultaneous use of a kosher phone and a non-kosher phone was raised both in the case under discussion, in previous High Court proceedings on the "kosher floor" issue, and in the public and media sphere.

The Chief Justice further noted that his reference during the hearing to a "kosher phone for show" was meant to recall a position expressed by parts of the chareidi public itself, including those dealing with the kosher phone issue in the chareidi community, regarding the importance they attach to displaying and showcasing the kosher phone in their possession, as a kind of "identity tag" within the community. The term "for show", in its various forms, is also in use in this context, he said, including in media outlets with chareidi affiliation.

Justice Amit explained that his intention during the hearing was only to address factual claims raised in the past regarding a factual issue concerning the chareidi sector's use of kosher phones, against the background of the direct relevance of this issue to the petition. In this context, he said, he used everyday terms that are used in common discourse to describe the kosher phone phenomenon.

Justice Yitzhak Amit on chareidi kosher phones (Photo: From the live broadcast, Judicial Authority spokesperson)

"To my regret, it seems my words were echoed in the media in a mistaken light, which did not express my true intention," Justice Amit wrote in his response. He added that after reviewing the complaints, it emerges that his words hurt parts of the chareidi public, and he had no such intention whatsoever.

At the end of his response, the Chief Justice noted: "After watching the recording of the hearing again, I believe that in light of the public sensitivity of the issue, it would have been better had the sentence (that is the subject of the complaints) been phrased and expressed differently, and I regret that the words hurt the feelings of the complainants or others in this context."

Ombudsman Kula said that the complaint against Chief Justice Amit will be closed.