2026-10-22
Update for family and friends, and a request for advice
The Haifa Mafia: Judge Revital Baum, Judge Esperanza Alon, Judge Hila Gurevitz, Adv. Rachel Ben-Ari
About the Haifa Mafia
The moniker "Mafia" doesn't mean that any of the figures were indicted or convicted of organized crime-related offenses. It is also impossible. In Israel, judges enjoy effective impunity.
The moniker "Mafia" means that in the Haifa Family Court one may find Indicia of Organized Crime. The Adv. Rachel Ben-Ari—Judge Hila Gurevitz affair, the center of which is the Estate of the late Rivca Shami Zernik z"l, is a prime example.
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Dear family and friends,
Mr. Uri Zernik emailed me today (Oct 22, 2026):
I am in Tel Aviv, and I would like to meet you...
I am seeking your advice on how to respond, if at all.
1. Introduction: Is Rachel Ben-Ari one of the most honest persons around?
Mr. Uri Zernik's visit coincides with an interesting development in the alleged fraud scheme in the ongoing Estate affair... This week I've sent to a wide distribution of legal professionals, law and justice authorities, as well as university presidents and top management, and other public institutions' management, an email note, titled:
By the way, Rachel Ben-Ari is one of the most honest persons I have met in my entire life. Really???
Rachel Ben-Ari is a public figure and counsel for Mr. Dror Zernik. Ben-Ari, in a joint enterprise with Adv. Yoav Solomon, counsel for Mr. Uri Zernik initiated in June 2024 a dubious process in the Haifa Family Court. Soon after reading the initial pleading, I alleged that it was and is Fraud Upon the Court.
Together, Ben-Ari and Solomon have ~90 years of practice. For decades, Ben-Ari has cultivated an image of public service and integrity. Yet new developments in recent weeks in the Zernik family affair appear to place her at the heart of the Haifa Mafia in an alleged fraudulent scheme that undermines the entire national Estate registry system (see below).
Adv. Rachel Ben-Ari, delivering continuing education for legal professionals on 'Highlights in Drafting Wills and Estates', head of an influential 35 lawyer office, 2-terms member of the Judicial Election Committee, "close to former Supreme Court President D. Beinisch", General Counsel for the Technion and VERA (Committee of University Heads), former head of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Haifa office, a founder and a member of the Judge Haim Cohen Center for Protection of Human Rights, former Chair of the Audit Committee of the Channel 2 News Corp., senior officer of the Israel Bar Association, etc., etc. ...
The email note was nominally addressed to Adv. Yuval Adler, Head of the Litigation Dept. at Ben-Ari Fish Law Offices, in response to a July 28, 2025, WhatsApp dialogue between Adler and an unnamed person.
Unnamed Person to Yuval:
How are you, Yuval
Recently, I have heard more and more whispers about Rachel Ben-Ari.
There are those who see in her the Haifa version of Effi Naveh,*
And that raises quite a few question marks.
*Naveh - a notoriously corrupt Israel Bar former Chair, and member of the Judicial Election Committee. Was the key actor in Sex for Judicial Appointment scandal...
Yuval Adler to Unnamed Person
Hi,
I take the liberty of stating that I know you a bit,
So I am sure you don't trust nonsense someone writes.
We are familiar with the publications of that Zernik, which you apparently received as well.
We decided to do nothing in this matter, since any reader can see the problem lies with the writer alone. Nothing more needs to be said.
By the way, Rachel Ben-Ari is one of the most honest persons I have met in my entire life. Truly, Yuval
2. Why should the Ben-Ari Gurevitz affair be of public interest?
It is no secret that I view the entire affair as a criminal matter. In this regard, I acted according to the "Badges of Fraud" doctrine, and sent messages to Ben-Ari whenever I identified an incident matching a Badge of Fraud. However, I stopped when we reached Badge of Fraud #40. The only response Rachel Ben-Ari was willing to provide upon receiving notification of the Badges of Fraud was 'file it with the judge'...
Yet, had she been a duly appointed Estate Administrator, her statutory duties would include providing full response to the Heir.
Badge of Fraud #38, which I dubbed "the smoking gun and the black flag," is a copy of the inventory that Ben-Ari submitted to the offices of the Administrator General (APAK) in Haifa. This document is described below under the date January 30, 2025.
I dubbed it "The Smoking Gun" because, in my opinion, this document can serve as the basis for an investigation that will lead to the filing of indictments. In this, it differs from the other Badges of Fraud, each of which individually is far from proving fraud.
The moniker "The Black Flag" indicates that I do not think Rachel Ben-Ari will be able to explain her actions regarding the Parta copy in a manner that supports the claim that she was not aware she was engaging in violations of the Penal Law. To be more precise, it is implausible that she could claim the document in its current form was created because she acted in Good Faith in complying with an instruction from Judge Hila Gurevitz, which she viewed as a lawful instruction...
By failing to submit a lawful inventory, failing to submit a financial report to this day, failing to submit a single affidavit to the court (while she was obligated to submit an affidavit with every motion and report), and refusing to respond to the heir's inquiries—all of which are her statutory duties had she been a lawfully appointed Estate Administrator—Rachel Ben-Ari creates a situation where, even if she were to embezzle estate funds, I would have no way to prove it.
As someone who has authored reports on the law and justice system in Israel, I know of no similar affair ever reported in Israel. What is unique about the affair before us is the combination of characteristics from the Efi Nave affair with characteristics of the Varda Alshich affair. Furthermore, the affair, in which Rachel Ben-Ari is a central figure, exhibits symptoms of organized crime in the courts of Haifa. The other figures are judges whose appointments Ben-Ari promoted, such as Hila Gorvitz, Revital Baum, Tal Peperny, and others such as Esperanza Alon. Another lawyer involved was Amos Zadika.
Another way to characterize the affair, if we focus on the conduct of Judge Hila Gorvitz, presents the particular phenomena in three sections, although there is overlap between them:
Disruption and/or thwarting of reliable management and custody of authentic, valid, and enforceable court pleadings, and appropriate, reliable records in Net HaMishpat.
Distortion and/or fabrication of rules of procedure.
Reckless lying.
Below is an example combining all three sections:
Rachel Ben-Ari is an "estate administrator" according to Judge Hila Gorvitz. Rachel Ben-Ari presents herself as an "estate administrator." Rachel Ben-Ari submits motions on behalf of "the estate administrators." However, in the court file, no appropriate entities defined as "estate administrators" were designated. Therefore, in a competent court, the registry should have rejected the pleadings from the registry under the grounds of "mismatched," and requested the filer to correct them and resubmit them for filing, as also held by Supreme Court rulings. The registry does not act this way. It accepts the motions for filing, but registers them under the names of parties who are not "estate administrators" at all.
I objected to these actions, arguing that there is a disruption of legal proceedings here, as well as irregularities in the management of the estate funds and the thwarting of any possibility of effective supervision. In response, Judge Hila Gorvitz issued a decision stating that these are the procedures as she heard from the clerk Keren Pelleg. Indeed, Keren Pelleg supported that statement, she too having learned the procedures by hearsay... Yet Judge Gorvitz, court clerk Keren Pelleg, and Courts Legal Advisor Barak Leiser did not answer when I requested a written source for these false claims. The written source is mandatory work instruction 117-10, "Definition of functionaries who are court appointments," and it is identical to my position.
How does Rachel Ben-Ari rationalize her conduct?
How does Rachel Ben-Ari perceive her actions in collusion with Hila Gurevitz in the Estate of my late mother?
One possible explanation is that Rachel Ben-Ari views herself as an "Estate Administrator" pursuant to some legal framework outside the Succession Law, 1965, and the other laws of the State of Israel—an original arrangement established by Judge Hila Gurevitz in her capacity as an ad-hoc extra-legal legislator.
However, Rachel Ben-Ari is a veteran attorney. Furthermore, she serves as the General Counsel for the Technion and for VERA (Committee of University Heads). In these roles, she is supposed to exercise independent legal discretion. Therefore, the claim that she is acting in good faith according to the instructions of Judge Hila Gurevitz is implausible. In particular, since the entire course of events that brought Ben-Ari to Gurevitz's doorstep is implausible, and Gurevitz's appearance in this affair (see under January 15, 2023, below) is also allegedly founded on fraud.
Another theory views the conduct of Judge Hila Gurevitz and Adv. Rachel Ben-Ari as reckless criminality and nothing more.
In any case, I clarified to Ben-Ari and to the judge several times, starting shortly after the submission of the initial pleading, that I never gave my consent to participate in this depraved illusion. Judge Hila Gorvitz tried to create a reverse record in a decision dated September 11, 2024 (see below), which dismissed a motion to dismiss in limine and a denial of authority. According to Gorvitz, I gave my consent to participate in the proceedings. This decision is allegedly based on distortion and fraud... It is based on turning me into a "plaintiff" in the proceeding. Judge Hila Gorvitz was so proud of this stunt that she sent the decision for publication...
Finally, it is important to emphasize the public interest: the affair exposes a supervision-bypassing route for estate administrators. It is hard for me to believe that the supervision-bypassing route was created especially for me, especially since it appears that many functionaries in the court, the AP"K offices, the Land Registration Office, and the banks are all coordinated on the matter.
Therefore, the obvious questions are: In how many estate files has Ben-Ari participated in recent years? How many of them were conducted via the supervision-bypassing route? How many estate proceedings were conducted via the supervision-bypassing route in the courts of Haifa in recent years?
According to estimates, the volume of estates annually is about 5% of the GDP. That means the volume of estates in Israel is estimated at 100 billion NIS per year! Even frauds on the scale of a few percent would bring the volume of frauds to billions of NIS per year! What is the scope of estate fraud in Israel? What was the change in the scope of estate fraud per year following the enactment of Amendment 18 in 2023?
Chronology of Fraud and Corruption
My email note continued by providing copies of records supporting the notion that Rachel Ben-Ari is unlikely to be "one of the most honest persons"...
With instant online translation of web pages available today, some readers may prefe the Hebrew original.
https://inproperinla.blogspot.com/2026/10/2026-10-13.html
Below, only select chronological highlights are provided. These events have taken place on the background of corruption of the courts and the legal profession, particularly in the Family Courts and Estate proceedings (discussion follows the chronology):
1. On August 28, 2023, the Estate Distribution Agreement was signed, which was primarily drafted by Ben-Ari and Solomon. They were appointed Trustees to execute the Agreement at their own request.
2. On February 18, 2024, an agreement was reached on an Amendment to the Agreement, in which the Trustees committed to providing the heirs with financial reports every 6 months.
How could the 2 esteemed advocates draft an agreement on financial matters without a word about financial reporting?
Ben-Ari's reluctance to consent to the amendment speaks for itself. Beyond that, 2.5 years later, Rachel Ben-Ari has failed to provide a valid financial report. See her latest update below, dated August 18, 2026.
I also agree to report every 6 months. It's trivial. It's a shame to invent problems and disputes. The lawyers don't need all these stipulations. They already do much more than what they were asked.
3. Starting December 24, 2023, Mr. Dror Zernik made various statements refusing to comply with the provisions of the Agreement. Ben-Ari and Solomon never appeared to urge him to comply; on the contrary, they seemed to cater to his demands.
4. January-April, 2024, Ben-Ari and Solomon failed to perform their duties. They failed to enter a cautionary notice in the Land Registry Office. Likewise, there is no evidence that they have opened an estate bank account to this day.
5. On May 4-11, 2024, first, Mr. Dror Zernik unilaterally announced the Estate Distribution Agreement null and void. He stated that he would not allow an independent, professional art assessor to conduct the chattel assessment, as provided in the Agreement, because it would harm him. One alternative, proposed by Mr. Dror Zernik, was that the 2 scribbled pages that he had produced with a friend (not an art assessor, and as it turned out later, including at least one major mistake), would be deemed the assessment. A second alternative was that he himself would perform the assessment and thereby save money for the Estate. His reasoning was unusual to the point that it appeared as a charade.
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Two scribbled pages, which Mr Dror Zernik insisted should replace assement by an independent, professional assessor, as provided in the Agreement. Ben Ari and Solomon appeared to do nothingto dissuae him from breaching the Agreement, on the contrary, they presented thise scribbled pages as a legitimate alterative to the assessment as outlined in the Agreement.
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Neither Solomon nor Ben Ari tried to dissuade him. On the contrary, by May 11, 2024, Trustee Ben Ari sent a notice supporting Mr. Dror Zernik's position.
6. On June 5, 2024, Mr. Uri Zernik and Mr. Dror Zernik filed an action directed against me in the Haifa Family Court, EF 11650-06-24, "Request for appointing Estate Administrators." The initial pleading was filed in Mr. Uri Zernik's name, but without a valid Power of Attorney certificate, an affidavit, the Probate Order identifying the Heirs, or a reference to the Agreement Certification court file. The filing also failed to include the Legal Clerk's certificate approving the filing. The filing involved a series of other events that couldn't be logically explained as part of an honest court action.
Of note, Mr. Uri Zernik refuses to file a Power of Attorney certificate for Adv. Yoav Solomon to this day. The failure to file the certificate is one of the key issues invalidating the court process. Judge Hila Gurevitz is actively involved in undermining the validity of the process by blocking any attempt to compel Mr. Uri Zernik to file a power of attorney certificate. Regardless, the entire allegedly fraudulent scheme is registered in Mr. Uri Zernik's name.
Judge Hila Gurevitz, whom Ben-Ari promoted to a judicial appointment, appeared as judge in this court file, but her assignment data appeared fraudulent. On June 5, 2024, the following assignment data were entered: The court file was assigned to Judge Tal Paperny for about 2 minutes, and overlapping this assignment, the court file was assigned to Judge Hila Gurevitz for about 20 seconds. Judge Gurevitz failed to explain when repeatedly asked.
Assignment to Judge Tal Paperny
Start: 05/06/2024
11:25:46
End: 05/06/2024
11:27:51
Assignment
to Judge Hila Gurevitz
Start: 05/06/2024
11:27:27
End: 05/06/2024
11:27:51
Related, inexplicable irregularities appeared in the assignment data in related court files.
Notably, Judge Hila Gurevitz's first alleged fraudulent involvement in this affair occurred on January 11-15, 2023, a year and a half earlier. At that time, she entered the related court file AP 1829-06-10, which was lawfully assigned to Judge Revital Baum, and started entering unlawful decisions in that court file. She continued the practice until the end of September 2024, almost 2 years. However, in a December 1, 2024, Decision, denying disqualification for cause, she appeared to deny any relationship to that AP file.
Adv. Yair Shiber was falsely entered as my counsel in the June 5, 2024, filing without my permission, without a power of attorney certificate, and without any authority. This act should be attributed to all three attorneys, Solomon, Ben-Ari, and Shiber. The three attorneys failed to disclose the filing of the court action to me.
7. On June 6, 2024, Adv. Solomon, acting without a power of attorney certificate, solicited Adv. Shiber, also acting without a power of attorney certificate, to provide "Consent" on my behalf. Shiber provided "We consent," and Solomon immediately filed it in Court. To this day, the Secretariat continues to accept filings by Solomon in a manner that undermines the integrity and validity of the process.
8. On June 16, 2024, after discovering the scheme, I filed motions in Court to dismiss Shiber as my counsel and dismiss the "Consent." Judge Gurevitz granted my requests, though the decisions lacked a process #.
9. On June 18-25, 2024, Solomon, Ben-Ari and Gurevitz engaged in a retaliatory action for undoing their Shiber scheme... The retaliation was an alleged fraud in itself, extreme and bizarre.
(a) On June 18, 2024, Solomon filed a "Response" to my request to dismiss the false entry of Shiber as my counsel. He argued that because I am not represented by counsel, the Court should revoke my recognition as a legal person. I should be denied the right to voice my position regarding the Estate's distribution. This bizarre idea was claimed to derive from cy pres in equity law.
(In my opinion, based on my observations of Solomon's legal thinking, this alleged fraud was far beyond his skills and capacity.)
(b) On June 24, 2024, Ben-Ari filed a "Response" to my request to dismiss the false entry of Shiber as my counsel. She repeated the same argument: because I was not represented by counsel, the Court should revoke my recognition as a legal person. I should be denied the right to voice my position regarding the Estate's distribution. This bizarre idea was again claimed to be derived from Cy Pres in equity law.
(c) On June 24, 2024, Gurevitz keyed Ben-Ari's "Response" as a "Request", with no notice or decision.
(d) On June 25, 2024, AM, Gurevitz keyed in - "Granted".
The metadata page for Ben-Ari's "Response" on my dismissal of the "Consent". Rachel's paper was filed on June 24, 2024, at 10:01, and entered at 10:11, 10 minutes later, as a "Motion". On June 25, 2024, at 11:48, the Motion was granted. No notice or service of a written decision was provided. However, the new Civil Court Procedure Regulations, 2018, deleted the requirement for writing and signatures for judicial acts.
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10. On July 2, 2024, and July 9, 2024, I submitted notices to the Court and the parties stating:
"The initial pleading appeared to be a declaration to all those attending the court regarding the intention to conduct sham legal proceedings."
I defined "Conducting sham legal proceedings" according to the definition of the offense in the Texas Penal Code, Section 32.48, Simulating Legal Process. The intent is not any Fraud Upon the Court, but a specific type of fraud.
A few days later, Solomon filed a "response" to the Court. He presumably feared that Judge Hila Gurevitz did not understand me properly. However, in the "response" he filed, he claimed that I am "concealing" my intent from the Court... Therefore, he explained to her: 'He means to say that the proceeding is founded on fraud.'
Needless to mention that at the same time, Solomon and his client refused to submit a power of attorney, and the registry continued to accept documents for filing from his hands.
11. July 31, 2024, there still remained the issue of the conduct of Ben-Ari and Salomon with Shiber surrounding the filing of the lawsuit, which appeared to be fraudulent, including filing the false "Consent" in my name. Regarding this, I received a response from Ben-Ari. She explained that it was "pure collegiality"...
"To the best of my knowledge, there is not and never was any connection between Adv. Shiber and Adv. Salomon other than pure collegiality, exactly as it was with me... It is a pity about the energy invested in this direction instead of advancing the administration of the Estate (a joint enterprise of Adv. Solomon and myself, even if he is the one who filed the application)..."
Ben Ari's denial was unconvincing, since anyone looking back at the period since February or March 2023 is likely to conclude that Shiber was compromised by Solomon and Ben-Ari even before August 28, 2023. Naturally, this observation implies that Ben-Ari and Solomon never drafted the Agreement in Good Faith, never had the parties sign it in Good Faith, and never intended to keep the Agreement.
September 11, 2024, Judge Hila Gorvitz dismissed a motion to dismiss in limine using an elegant act of adjudication, even if allegedly fraudulent in nature...
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September 11, 2024, Decision dismissing a Motion to dismiss in limine – Estate File 11650-06-24.
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Gurevitz reversed the party designations, and I became the Plaintiff. She then reasoned that I was confused, since I am unrepresented. A Motion to dismiss is intended for the Defendant and not the Plaintiff... Furthermore, the Plaintiff cannot deny authority, since he approached the Court to seek relief.
The reversal of party designations remained permanent. I objected to this, inter alia, in a motion for disqualification. I argued that the designation "plaintiff" amounts to defamation. For all my friends and acquaintances know my stance regarding the courts. Therefore, a publication stating that I sued family members in a Family Court in Israel is a severe blow to my honor and credibility.
December 1, 2024, Decision dismissing a Motion for disqualification – Estate File 11650-06-24.
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In dismissing the Motion for disqualification, Gurevitz repeated the same false reasoning in a new version. I am unrepresented and therefore do not understand that party designations change based on the "burden" in a specific Motion. This reasoning must also be viewed as fraud, since I have no doubt that an experienced judge like Gurevitz knows the Director of Courts' instructions on this matter. Furthermore, Gurevitz distorted the headings even in documents where no "burden" existed, for example, in the Protocol and the Transcript.
Notice regarding the Director of Courts' instructions on the structure of documents under the Civil Procedure Regulations 2018.
October 9, 2024 – repeated revocation of my recognition as a legal person in a live appearance with the reasoning, "and this is very clear" and with my purported consent.
On October 9, 2024, Judge Hila Gorvitz held a hearing or informal event in the absence of two parties and refused to provide a duly prepared Protocol under various false pretexts. This occurred even after the Administration of Courts issued a legal position paper emphasizing the duty to prepare proper Protocol upon a party's demand, regardless of whether the initial documentation was typed or recorded. The technical details required for preparing the minutes are defined in mandatory Work Instruction 03-14.
Finally, she ruled that a garbled and unsigned transcript constitutes properly prepared minutes. During this informal event, Gorvitz and Ben-Ari conducted a second round of denial of recognition of legal personality. Afterward, Gorvitz and, apparently, Ben-Ari claimed that I had given my consent...
Clarification: Below is an excerpt from a transcript of a recording. Its presentation here does not mean I recognize the validity of the proceeding, the event conducted in the Court in Haifa, or the transcript. I present the text here solely to clarify the level of depravity reached by the Gorvitz-Ben-Ari duo.
This text is part of the basis for the alleged appointment of Rachel Ben-Ari as Estate Administrator.
11. November 4, 2024 – in a submission to the court, Ben-Ari and Salomon presented legal arguments while knowing they were false, contradicted the initial pleading, and were barred by estoppel. Furthermore, these arguments contradicted a filing by Mr. Dror Zernik, which was registered on that very same day in guardianship file AP 11829-06-10.
On November 4, 2024, Ben-Ari and Salomon spontaneously filed a notice to the court in estate file T”A 11650-06-24, in which they declared that once appointed as estate administrators, they would be exempt from their obligations under the distribution agreement.
This legal argument is false, and it stands as a violation of Rule 34 of the Israel Bar Association Rules – Misrepresentation. However, under the circumstances here, this act may well be found to constitute fraud in its own right.
Additionally, the argument contradicts the statement made in the initial pleading, and it must be viewed as subject to estoppel.
Furthermore, one must not forget that the proceedings have been conducted to this day without Salomon submitting an affidavit on behalf of his client.
In addition, this filing was designed to create a completely illogical inference: in this filing, Ben-Ari and Salomon admit that there was no agreement: I insisted that any appointment of estate administrators must include a mention of their duties under the distribution agreement. However, from this, they reach the conclusion that I waived the distribution agreement and consented to their appointment while canceling their duties under the distribution agreement.
It should be noted that Judge Hila Gorvitz was a party to this entire representation, even if by her silence.
It is also worth noting that Ben-Ari and Salomon once again submitted a response to the court ostensibly on my behalf without my consent... and once again, with the intent to create liability in my name.
On November 4, 2024, a notice by Heir 3, Ben-Ari’s client, was registered with the court in AP 1829-06-10, containing a contradictory argument regarding the validity of the distribution agreement.
This filing by Heir 3 is a unique document for clarifying the entire affair. For he clarifies in this filing that in file AP 1829-06-10, a transfer of assets took place (to my mind, a concealment of assets). The data concerning the asset concealment in this file are the motive for the motion for inspection, and they are the motive for the opposition to the inspection.
In addition, the question arises as to why the judges were so determined in their opposition to inspection. The answer is likely that various actions were carried out in this file contrary to legal instructions.
Heir 3's interpretation regarding my consent to the asset concealment is inaccurate. The distribution agreement only stipulated that as long as the agreement is in force, I would not take action regarding the asset concealment.
In any case, Heir 3's arguments must be examined in the context of the unilateral declaration he sent on May 4, 2024, regarding the nullity of the distribution agreement. He did not retract this statement. And his counsel, Ben-Ari, argued that same day in T”A 16650-06-24 that the agreement stands to be nullified upon the appointment of estate administrators.
December 1, 2024 – "Psikta (Formal Judgment) – Appointment of Estate Administrators" and a repetition of the denial of recognition of legal personality
Following the event of October 9, 2024, Ben-Ari and Salomon submitted the following Psikta document. In my view, the Psikta is a core fraudulent act in the entire affair. For in this Psikta, the procedural fraud matured into a substantive fraud and a takeover of the estate assets. In addition, the Psikta constitutes the implementation of the denial of my recognition as a legal personality.
Ben-Ari and Salomon submitted the "Psikta" as representing "what was agreed between the deceased's heirs as recorded in the hearing protocol of October 9, 2024..." In my view, the submission of the Psikta amounts to the offense of false acknowledgment in another's name, Section 442 of the Penal Law, 5737-1977: "A person who acknowledges before a court or competent authority a debt, obligation, or offense in the name of another person without authority or without his consent is liable to 3 years imprisonment."
(1) Form of "Order for the Appointment of an Estate Administrator" under the Succession Law, 5725-1965, and its Regulations
The emphasized part in the text of Form 10 mentions the Succession Law, 5725-1965, and particularly the duties of an estate administrator regarding reporting to the heirs, and specifically the duty to submit an inventory (Partah) to the Administrator General (AP”K) online, and to submit the inventory to the heirs with proof of delivery to the AP”K. These instructions, which Ben-Ari and Salomon omitted from the custom-made "Psikta" text, are precisely those whose violation forms the basis for creating the inventory document dated January 28, 2025 (see below, January 30, 2025), which I view as the smoking gun and the black flag.
(2) Text of "Psikta – Appointment of Estate Administrators" produced by Ben-Ari-Gorvitz
The text before us was submitted by Salomon and Ben-Ari, but it is hard to accept the special distortion as a text determined without the judge's partnership. It is hard to believe that the lawyers hit her taste with this distortion. The Psikta is not a Psikta at all, since it does not rely on a prior decision or judgment. The Psikta is a de novo decision: "I decide as follows." If there was an agreement between the heirs, all that was required was "I approve the agreement of the heirs." Moreover, in reality, there is no "what was agreed between the deceased's heirs as recorded in the protocol." No such protocol exists, and even if one were found, it is unclear what was agreed therein.
Section 1 is invalid as a Psikta, since it is a new decision; the appointment only commenced on December 1, 2024.
Section 2 is invalid, since it is a translation of the denial of the heir's legal personality. Furthermore, Adv. Leibowitz ended her involvement in the file about a month and a half prior.
Section 3 is invalid, since its intent is to grant the estate administrators a sham exemption from the duty to submit financial reports. The judge advocated for the disclosure of balances only, as we saw in the information provided by Ben-Ari on August 12, 2026. The judge has no authority to thwart the provisions of the Succession Law. The claim that Ben-Ari acted in good faith in complying with the judge's instructions while concealing her actions in the estate from me cannot be accepted.
Section 4.3 is invalid, since it orders the payment of professional fees to estate administrators not in the manner by which an estate administrator is compensated under the Succession Law. Furthermore, the lawyers decided to compensate themselves for executing the inheritance agreement, while they worked to thwart it and even declared its nullity.
The prominent fact is that there is no mention whatsoever of the Succession Law as the source of authority in this appointment. Throughout the proceedings, the lawyers and the judge were careful not to mention the laws of the State of Israel.
The signature on the Psikta is irregular in my view. For it is a signature on a separate document, a slip decision serving as evidence of the signing of the Psikta, which was never actually performed.
January 30, 2025 – Ben-Ari prepared a distorted and/or forged inventory and submitted it to the AP”K as a paper document, contrary to the law, while delivering a copy to me without proof of delivery to the AP”K, also contrary to the law.
The smoking gun and the black flag – On January 30, 2025, I received by email an "Estate Inventory" document from Rachel Ben-Ari, acting as a purported estate administrator. However, service has not been completed to this day. For the law and regulations, and even the text of the "Order for the Appointment of an Estate Administrator" (Form 10, Regulation 37(a) of the Succession Regulations, see above December 1, 2024) dictate that she was required to serve the inventory first to the AP”K and obtain proof of delivery, and only thereafter serve the inventory to me with the proof of delivery to the AP”K. Even after repeated requests, Ben-Ari has not provided me with the proof of delivery to the AP”K. Such proof most likely does not exist.
The "Estate Inventory" document appears to be an act of fraud and forgery for additional reasons:
Ben-Ari's appointment was never recognized as valid by the court registry. Therefore, the registry did not issue an estate administrator appointment writ to the AP”K. Furthermore, the registry did not close the estate administrator appointment application file nor open an estate administration file. Meaning, all of Ben-Ari's actions as estate administrator are conducted outside the law.
The AP”K did not recognize Ben-Ari as an estate administrator, since he did not receive service of an order for the appointment of estate administrators from the court registry. Therefore, the AP”K could not lawfully open an estate administration file.
Because of this, Ben-Ari saw fit to alter the inventory form provided in the regulations, and to add an appendix which she falsely termed on page 1 as an "Order" of the Family Court in Haifa, attached as Appendix 1 to the inventory. On page 5 in the table of contents of the appendices, she magnified the falsehood and defined the document in Appendix 1 as an "Order for the Appointment of Estate Administrators." However, the document presented in Appendix 1 is a "Psikta – Appointment of Estate Administrators." This episode shows that Ben-Ari herself knows that the Psikta is completely devoid of validity, and she must create a false representation of an order for the appointment of estate administrators, which is the legal instrument for establishing an estate administrator under the Succession Law.
Even if the Psikta were valid as an order for the appointment of estate administrators, it had to be served to the AP”K by the registry. Ben-Ari has no authority to bypass the legal instructions and deliver her appointment writ to the AP”K herself.
The bank accounts presented in the "Estate Inventory" do not indicate that they are estate accounts, and one of them is even identified as a guardianship account under Heir 3's control.
Ben-Ari distorted the text of the affidavit in the inventory. According to the Succession Law, the purpose of the affidavit is to verify the completeness of the inventory to the best of the estate administrator's knowledge. Alas, Ben-Ari omitted the word "complete" from the wording of the affidavit, thereby nullifying the affidavit's purpose.
Later, I received from the AP”K a copy of the inventory that Ben-Ari submitted to the AP”K. The copy of the inventory arrived as an attachment to a accompanying email from Samer Hieib, Estates Inspector (see below): "In the estate administration file concerning the deceased... an inventory was submitted..." I view this document as a "smoking gun" that changed the entire picture of the affair. The AP”K administration presumably did not imagine that I would understand the document.
According to the law and regulations, Ben-Ari was required to submit the inventory to the AP”K "online." However, the document sent to me showed forensic evidence of a document submitted as a paper document: the document itself is in black and white, whereas the original includes colors. The background is also darker than the original, presumably reflecting the printing of the document for the purpose of its submission. In the upper right corner, staple holes are visible, and across the face of the document is a colored manual "Received" stamp... This is likely the reason why Ben-Ari has no proof of delivery, as required by the regulations.
The accompanying letter is cautiously worded, and a similar letter from Adv. Ofer Haddad is worded in similar terms. From this wording, it can be concluded that the estate administration file does not contain a copy of the estate administrators' appointment writ served by the registry, as required by the regulations.
In the absence of an estate administrator appointment writ, it was impossible to open an estate administration file in the AP”K system. This is likely why they were forced to adopt a method bypassing supervision, and to accept a paper document filing contrary to the law.
Email from Inspector Samer Hieib dated October 22, 2025, accompanied by a copy of the inventory.
Copy of page 1 of the inventory submitted by Ben-Ari to the AP”K, as provided to me by the AP”K.
July 2, 2026 – The AP”K, Haifa District, refuses to provide verifying details regarding the inventory document it sent me in response to routine inquiries
A motion for inspection was submitted to the AP”K Haifa and Northern District, but has not received a proper response to this day.
In order to corroborate the conclusions regarding the "Estate Inventory" document I received from the AP”K Haifa and Northern District, I sent various senior officials in the offices of the AP”K Haifa and Northern District requests for additional verifying information details. However, once they realized that I had identified the nature of the document as a paper document submitted contrary to the law, they shifted to a thunderous silence.
The simplest question was: Inspector Samer Hieib's accompanying email states that the "Estate Inventory" document is from an estate administration file. What is the number of the estate administration file from which the inventory was sent? On what date was it opened? Who opened it? On what basis?
After receiving no response for several months, on July 2, 2026, I filed a motion for inspection and receipt of document copies pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, 5722-1962, and Regulation 23(b) of the Administrator General Regulations (Rules of Procedure and Enforcement), 5738-1978, accompanied by an affidavit as required by the regulations, with the aim of clarifying these details.
Below is the motion for inspection dated July 2, 2026:
Motion for inspection in the regional AP”K registry, Haifa and the North, dated July 2, 2026, submitted to the Northern District Manager, Tamira Alter, and the National AP”K, Ben-Zion Figelson.
August 12, 2026 – Two and a half years after agreeing to provide financial reports every 6 months, Rachel Ben-Ari sent an email of unknown meaning, with an attached account statement
The accompanying email says only: "For your information – attached is the state of the estate account for today." Note that Rachel Ben-Ari does not identify herself as an estate administrator, as required by the regulations, even after my repeated demands. When I submitted motions to Judge Hila Gorvitz, she refused to order Ben-Ari to comply with the law. She usually dismisses such motions with the reasoning of "veteran and professional lawyers"... and sometimes she also slaps me with costs in favor of the State Treasury to discipline me, because I have a problem of "distrust in lawyers"... (but lo and behold, although she ordered over 26,000 NIS I didn't pay a thing... because it turned out they are unable to transfer charges for collection from a fictitious file, and I refused to pay the registry. What is this here? Am I going to fund Hanukkah parties for the employees? New Year gifts?)
A financial report under the Succession Law and its regulations is supposed to be prepared according to the form in the regulations, and it is supposed to be submitted with an affidavit. Ben-Ari never signed an affidavit in court as an estate administrator.
Ben-Ari provided as an attachment to the aforesaid email a single account statement from the First International Bank (image below). The account bears no identification of the owner or any identification of an estate account. There is no information on what happened to the rest of the accounts. I find it hard to believe that this page came out in this form as a fresh printout. It seems to me the page has undergone treatment. That won't surprise me, since I am already used to it. In any situation where forms are used, I assume one must check carefully, because it is likely Ben-Ari distorted the original form.
She also has a bad habit of not recording a date in any situation where she can avoid recording the date, even if it is required by statute or explicit instructions. To my mind, a signature without a date is not a signature.
In short: I wouldn't buy a used car from her.
The situation is clear: the two of them, the bosom buddies Rachel Ben-Ari and Hila Gorvitz, jointly run an "estate management" proceeding outside the bounds of the laws of the State of Israel. The partner Hila Gorvitz is a qualified judge of the State of Israel, and the file appears in Net HaMishpat, but from the nature of matters it is clear it is not a file conducted as a court file of the State of Israel...
Rachel Ben-Ari served as Chair of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors at Channel 2 News. Today she serves as Legal Advisor of the Technion and VERA... Does anyone believe she views what she sent as any kind of estate administrator report?
There is a form in the regulations, and the financial report must arrive with an affidavit... Rachel Ben-Ari has a problem with affidavits... she doesn't like them... you know, personal taste... During the proceedings in Haifa she was obligated to submit affidavits with every motion... Lo and behold! She submitted zero affidavits. How so? Because Judge Hila Gorvitz permits her to, even when I object...
Even if Rachel Ben-Ari embezzles or steals the estate funds, I will have no way to check the matter, because she never provided me with a proper report according to law.
So how do I explain the whole affair? Exactly as I explained it from day one: sham proceedings. The judge presumably views the affair as part of her extra-judicial occupations. In this state, it goes without saying that Hila Gorvitz lacks any authority, nor does she have any immunity from criminal liability. Rachel Ben-Ari acts as if she doesn't understand, she's merely following orders... But I know, from personal knowledge, that Rachel Ben-Ari learned already at age 13 or 14 about orders bearing a black flag, and that one has a duty not to obey them...
Email dated August 12, 2026, which I received from Rachel Ben-Ari.
General statement page from the First International Bank attached to Rachel Ben-Ari's email.
August 16, 2026 – A non-answer answer to a motion for inspection submitted to the AP”K, Haifa and Northern District
A motion for inspection was submitted to the AP”K Haifa District... Gili Hornstein sends a response to a motion for inspection and receipt of documents. But in the body of the letter there is not a single word answering the requested details.
It seems to me that Gili Hornstein has a bright future at the AP”K. With such talent, she is a waste in her current role.
Accompanying email dated August 16, 2026
Response by Adv. Gili Hornstein, Deputy Northern District Manager, dated August 16, 2026, to the motion for inspection dated July 2, 2026
October 19, 2026 – Motion for inspection submitted to the National AP”K – Adv. Ben-Zion Figelson
October 21, 2026 – Summary
So what do you say, Adv. Yuval Adler? I hope you enjoyed the reading.
Does this look to you like the conduct of "one of the most upright women you've met in all your life"???
To me the situation appears criminal-bordering or criminal. The professional term is "concealment of funds." Concealment of funds or avoidance of providing accounts to beneficiaries or to the competent authority is not merely a breach of civil duty, it may amount to a severe breach of ethical duties, and even to criminal offenses.
Rachel Ben-Ari has been refusing for a long time, a year or two, to reply to my inquiries. The only explanation I received from her regarding any matter related to non-compliance with the law is: apply to the judge.
This is not a proper response:
(a) Rachel Ben-Ari is a veteran and experienced jurist. She serves as Legal Advisor of the Technion and VERA. She should be able to exercise independent judicial discretion. There is no doubt she is aware that she is failing to fulfill the fundamentals of the Succession Law. Likewise, there is no doubt she is aware that the judge has no authority to exempt her from complying with the law.
(b) The Succession Law itself includes a statutory duty of an estate administrator – to give a full response to the heir's inquiries regarding the estate.
The situation is simple: Rachel Ben-Ari is concealing the funds from me, the heir. Even if she embezzles and steals, I will have no way of knowing, because I never received reports according to law. As far as I'm concerned, this is swindling based on full partnership with Judge Hila Gorvitz.
Therefore, it is of supreme public importance to publicize the situation in the courts in Haifa. People who read "Technion Legal Advisor" or "90 years of legal excellence" or "close to Beinisch," etc., might mistakenly think there is some commitment here to legality, integrity, or fairness.
The situation is even graver, since, in my view, symptoms of organized crime are revealing themselves here.
About the Haifa Mafia
The nickname "The Haifa Mafia" is not meant to claim that any of the figures was put on trial or convicted of organized crime offenses. This matter is clear and self-evident, since in Israel a policy of impunity has been instituted towards judges. Throughout the years of the state, only one judge has been put on trial for malicious acts while abusing authority, and he was acquitted. Outside the State of Israel, a policy of impunity towards officeholders is considered a corrupt and corrupting policy, a policy that frustrates the realization of human rights. Therefore, special provisions were established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966, entered into force in Israel in 1992) against such a policy and its consequences.
In my view, the policy of impunity also causes the State of Israel to breach its duty to maintain competent courts, registrars, and authorities to serve its residents under the aforementioned Covenant. The English term in the Covenant describing the courts that the state is obligated to maintain for the service of its residents is Competent Courts. This term is usually translated into Hebrew as "בתי משפט מוסמכים" (Competent Courts). However, the meaning of the English term is broader. Its origin is centuries old, in the term Competent Courts of Record. That is, competent and recording courts. The emphasis is on the competence of these courts in managing and custodying records. Failures in the management and custody of pleadings are among the prominent failures in family courts in Israel, but also in other courts, and they are directly related to the central failure in Net HaMishpat.
Another characteristic that renders family courts, as well as other courts in Israel, incompetent, is the overt disdain of judges for rules of procedure. And the third characteristic in the case of Judge Hila Gorvitz, which I have encountered in one other judge, and heard about others as well, is reckless lying. The term recklessness in its legal sense refers to a lack of caring regarding conduct and its consequences. In the case before us, it is reckless lying. Meaning that Judge Hila Gorvitz writes decisions and does not care whether what she wrote is true or a lie. After all, everything is for show anyway...
The intention behind the nickname "The Haifa Mafia" is that the affair before us has generated criminological symptoms of organized crime – Indicia of Organized Crime. Among these can be counted the duration – the affair is today in its 13th or 16th year, depending on what we consider its birthday; the number of participants – a number of judges, registry personnel, collaborators in the AP”K offices, in the Land Registration Office, in the legal departments of the major banks...; the organizational framework – this is structured together with the cover front – which is the Family Court itself; the type of acts – creation of simulated pleadings (Simulated Court Records), and acts appearing as revenge, threats, harassment against a victim, witness, or reporter; multiple repetitions of the same acts – meaning, professionalization of the organization.
Many struggle to cope with the possibility of organized crime, or symptoms of organized crime within the law and justice system. However, this is a known phenomenon. For example, in 2009, the US Ambassador to Israel sent a secret cable to the State Department, a report titled: "Israel – Promised Land for Organized Crime?". [1] The report describes an infiltration of Israeli crime organizations into government institutions. At the same time, it notes his opinion that organized crime has not yet infiltrated the courts.
A distinction must be made between the crime organizations dealt with in the aforementioned report, which are violent crime organizations, and white-collar crime organizations, which are considered loose organized crime, and their characteristics differ. All these are criminological aspects. However, the Federal District Court in Los Angeles was asked about 20 years ago to rule on the principal question: Can the Los Angeles Police Department be sued in a tort claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)? A RICO tort claim triples the winner's money. The ruling established that this is permissible. That is, there was a recognition by a court that law and justice authorities can turn into crime organizations...
Probate and Family Courts
For generations, it has suffered from corruption. In Israel, the regular court system handled it at first. Then, in a 1995 law, the Jewish genius invented the Israeli Family Court system, based on the "Therapeutic Justice" concept: all behind closed doors, all cases sealed, and with "flexible" Rules of Court Procedure. They lost the wisdom of the generations. What did they expect to come out of it? Arak and Nana Sorbet? (I consider it the hallmark of Israeli gastronomy).
Very quickly the Family Courts became notoriously corrupt. "Total jungle, do anything you can to avoid them," per renowned TLVU Family Law Prof. Dafna Hacker in 2016. "The Black Hole of the court system," per MK Adv S. Rothman, on the record, in a July 2025 hearing concerning the Family Courts in the Constitution Law and Justice Committee that he Chairs. I was invited. At the next hearing, I had 3 minutes to opine on the situation. I opined, based on my expose' in 2016 of the Joelle Ben-Simon affair in the Jerusalem Family Court, that in some Family Courts we see Indicia of Organized Crime.
The ranking opposition member of the committee, MK, Adv., Rabbi (reform) Gilad Kariv almost suffered a heart attack, "Is there no limit to what you would allow yourself to say about the judiciary?."
After the hearing ended, I wanted to shake his hand, say hello, since I had never met him before. He ran out of the hearing hall through a side door, as if he was facing the devil incarnate, muttering, "I have nothing to talk with you about."
Joelle Ben Simon affair (2016)
In July 2016, Joelle Ben Simon, a single mother of a teenage boy, began a sit-down strike outside Justice Minister Shaked's office. After 4 days and 4 nights, she was granted her wish: a short meeting with the Minister. She complained that some Jerusalem Family Court judges had been abusing her for several years.
Next, she was held by police and brought to Eitanim Psych Hospital, after Adv. Yael Kotik of the Justice Ministry's CEO office "coordinated" her compulsory psychiatric hospitalization for evaluation. Those who met her during that time (i met her a couple of weeks later) said she posed no danger to herself or others. Activists, led by Lory Shem-Tov, rescued her from Eitanim Hospital.
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From Eitanim Psych Hosp, Joelle recorded Shabat Shalom greetings for Justice Minister Shaked: "I asked for your help regarding the Family Court, and you got me hospitalized. An example of an invalid "Draft" decision that the Court had previously served on Joelle at home.
After her release, I offered to escort her and help her inspect her court files at the Secretariat. We arrived, and I helped her fill out the forms. It turned out that she had 22 court files. However, a senior Secretariat officer ruled that she couldn't get a copy of any decision in these court files. They were "Drafts". However, the same "Drafts" had previously been served on Joelle at home as valid, enforceable court records.
Joelle's complaint to the Justice Minister was not based on the records. Her complaint focused on draconian rulings and what appeared to her to be fake court proceedings.
In the U.S., this type of criminal activity is termed "Simulated Court Process" or "Sham Court Process." Many States' penal codes include special sections for this crime. E.g., Texas Penal Code 32.48 - Simulating Legal Process. Typically, it requires collusion of a judge, a clerk, and counsel.
In Israel, the legal community denies this type of criminal activity exists.
Basically, at least since 2016 (I would argue as early as 2013), corruption in the Family Courts has been well known, but no one has tried to address this blatant corruption to this day.
Corrupt court records used to defraud, such as Joelle Ben Simon's fake court records, are linked to the Court's ICT system, Net HaMishpat. These issues were the subject of the HRA-NGO 2013 and 2018 submissions, of which I was the lead author, for the UN HRC periodic review [UPR].
The UN HRC professional staff reviewed the HRA-NGO submission and incorporated it by reference in the final 2013 UPR report on Israel.
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The UN HRC professional staff reviewed the HRA-NGO submission and incorporated it by reference in the final 2018 UPR report on Israel.
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After the 2018 UPR report, I sent a letter to Supreme Court Presiding Justice E. Hayut and suggested a significant change to the Supreme Court's record system. She adopted my suggestion, and her Bureau sent me a thank-you note.
In January 2019, I was invited to a closed meeting with Deputy Presiding Justice Hanan Melcer to review threats to the integrity of the general election.
Needless to say, Israel is allegedly in violation of its obligations to its own residents under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - to maintain competent courts.
The Zernik affair
2013, the Amos Sadika-Esperanza Alon affair
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Adv. Amos Sadika, Judge Esperanza Alon, Chief Clerk Israel Hen
The 2018 HRA submission included 2 unique creations from 2013 by Adv. Amos Sadika (operated by Mr. Dror Zernik) and Judge Esperanza Alon from the Haifa Family Court:
1) The March 17, 2013, double Post-it decisions—two different and conflicting post-it decisions issued on the same day on the same Motion, leaving it for later interpretation, which one was valid. The Chief Clerk refused to certify either of them "True Copy of the Original."
2) The April 4, 2013 'Not signed yet" Protocol—a purported hearing protocol, showing on its face the electronic watermark "Not signed yet." The content was erroneous or misleading, starting with the list of people present, ID numbers, etc.
Naturally, I filed a request to correct the record, including removing the watermark. Judge Esperanza Alon denied the request, reasoning that a person who is not an attorney would be hard pressed to comprehend the mysteries of the Rule of Civil Court Procedure.
In 2024, the the Administration of Courts issued a fake complaint review letter falsely attributing the complaint to me. In that letter they stated that the "Not signed yet" watermark was never a feature of Net HaMishpat, developed and operated by the Administration of Courts. They couldn't explain its appearance in 2013 in Haifa. Perhaps a computer mishap? The "Not signed yet" Protocol still preoccupies the Administration of Courts today. Is it signed, or isn't it signed???
In 2025, the Senior Prosecutor Moria Green, from the Bureau of Deputy State Attorney (criminal affairs)
My mother z"l passed away on Dec 15, 2022.
.that the family excel in criminality.
Tell me, please, what is one to do: T
