Following Lifschitz's departure, Presiding Justice Asher Grunis first refused to disclose who held the authorities of Chief Clerk of the Supreme Court. [8]
Presiding Justice Grunis also failed to provide:
* Appointment records of "Chief Clerk" Sarah Lifschitz;
* Appointment records of "Head, Pro Se Section" Attorney Danni Ben Tovim, and
* Valid certification "True Copy of the Original" of decisions, judgments of the Court.
The office of Attorney General Yehudah Weinstein has so far refused to respond either in the affirmative or in the negative on a request to authorize the investigation of the criminal fraud complaint against Presiding Justice Grunis in this matter. [9]
In Israel, as is the case in other courts, which originated in the English common law, the Chief Clerk is charged with the safeguard of the integrity of court records. Israeli courts had also ruled that a court with no lawfully operating office of the clerk is an incompetent court.
Yet, the entire affair has been so far blacked out by Israeli media, including:
* The filing of fraud complaints vs "Chief Clerk" Sarah Lifschitz and Presiding Justice Asher Grunis;
* The departure of "Chief Clerk" Lifschitz;
* The appearance of a new "Chief Clerk" Idit Melloul;
* The absence of documentation of lawful appointment of new "Chief Clerk" Idit Melloul, and
* Refusal of Presiding Justice Grunis to respond on the matter of Melloul's appointment at all.
It should be noted that the resignation a couple of years ago of the Chief Clerk of the Israeli cabinet, Mr Natan Eshel, featured in the headlines prominently. [10]
The fraud in appearance of Ms Sarah Lifschitz as "Chief Clerk" of the Supreme Court was only part of the findings of the Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission to the United Nations. The Human Rights Alert submission documented large-scale fraud in implementation of the new electronic-record systems of the courts over the past decade. Effectively, implementation of the systems amounted to abolishing the offices of the clerks of the Israeli courts. [11]
The Human Rights Alert submission was incorporated into the 2013 UPR report on Israel, with a note referring to "lack of integrity in the electronic records of the Supreme Court... in Israel." [6]
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