Over the past 15 years, Joseph Zernik PhD has been primarily active as research director for Human Rights Alert NGO. Dr Zernik's expertise in the field of IT systems of law and justice agencies and their significance for human rights has gained international recognition - by the UN Human Rights Council, by the US State Department, by the European Union, and by the Israeli Supreme Court.
The legal issues, which are often relevant to this field are: authentication of court records, the right to inspect and to copy court records, Rules of Court and the duty to promulgate such regulations, as well as Code is Law (Prof Larry Lessig's theory) and its serious implications in e-gov - in the discrepancy between the promulgated regulations and rules that are embedded in e-gov, with IT systems of the courts being the prime example.
Specific work:
- Dr Zernik is the primary author of the NGO's submissions to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process for the US (2010, 2015) and for Israel (2012, 2018). These submissions were focused on review of conduct of law and justice agencies, and in particular on case management systems of the courts and prisons. The 2010 submission for the UPR of the US is likely the first ever international human rights report that is primarily based on IT system analysis to prove widespread violations of human rights by government agencies - the California courts and prisons. All 4 submissions, listed above, passed the review of the UN HRC professional staff and were included in the HRC final reports for the respective UPRs.
- The 2010 submission was summarized by the UN professional staff in the UN report regarding the USA: "... corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California."
- The 2012 submission was summarized by the UN professional staff in the UN report regarding the Israel: "... lack of integrity in the electronic record systems of the Supreme Court, the district courts and the detainees courts in Israel."
- The 2018 submission was summarized by the UN professional staff in the UN report regarding the Israel: "... serious deterioration in the integrity of law and justice agencies as a consequence of the implementation of e-government systems. It affirmed that the validity and integrity of any legal and judicial records from Israel should be deemed dubious at best."
- In 2018 - Dr Zernik was invited to hold a seminar regarding Net HaMishpat and the Israeli justice system in a colloquium of law professors from the EU in the law school of Goettingen University, Germany.
- In 2018 - following the publication of the UN HRC UPR report on Israel, Dr Zernik requested then new Israeli Supreme Court Presiding Justice E. Hayut and she consented to remove the footnote "copy subject to editing and phrasing changes", which appeared for the previous 16 years on all Supreme Court decision records. That footnote was inserted during the tenure of Presiding Justice Aharon Barak and his protege' Supreme Court Magistrate B. Okon. The footnote replaced the traditional authentication statement, which was part of the records since the British Mandate period: "True Copy of the Original, Chief Clerk [Shmaryahu Cohen]". Dr Zernik also received a thank you note from the office of Presiding Justice E. Hayut.
- In January 2019 - on the eve of the general election in Israel, Dr Zernik was invited to participate in a small closed meeting, chaired by Prof Yuval Shani, former Dean of the Hebrew Univ Law School, with Justice Hanan Melcer, Deputy Presiding Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, then Chair of the Central Election Commission, a senior representative of the State Ombudsman's office, and Shin Bet representatives, to discuss "threats to the integrity of the general election in Israel". Dr Zernik was invited since he had published, starting a couple of years earlier, critical reviews of the Central Election Commission IT systems.
- In 2020 - Dr Zernik was approached by the US State Department and requested to provide a short periodic review of the Israeli justice system.
In August 2020 - representing Human Rights Alert in court, Dr Zernik won an Israeli Supreme Court appeal against decision of the three Jerusalem District judges in Criminal 67104-01-20 State of Israel v Netanyahu. The Jerusalem District Court Decisions denied Dr Zernik's requests to inspect decisions in State of Israel v Netanyahu which were not lawfully prohibited for publication, justifying their decision in claiming that the decisions were "technical" and not "material/essential" in nature. Justice O Grosskopf's decision in favor of Dr Zernik was hailed by Attorney Avigdor Feldman in his Haaretz column: "A historical event in our justice system" (August 27, 2020).
In December 2022 - The NGO's Administrative Petition 15789-09-22 Human Rights Alert NGO v Minister of Health and CEO of Ministry of Health was reported in prime time evening news after the Ministry of Health filed its response in court, claiming that it could not find the signed, authentic document of its Covid 19- related agreement with Pfizer Corp, and couldn't ascertain that it was signed at all. After the false response gained national attention, the Ministry of Health recanted.
In March 2023 - following court action by Human Rights Alert NGO, the purported criminal conviction of former Israel Bar Association Chairman Effi Naveh was purportedly lawfully filed and entered. In September 2022 Israeli media widely published the front page news: Naveh was convicted on minor criminal violations of the penal code - leaving Israel without Border Police inspection. No indictment was filed in the "Sex for Judicial Appointment" scandal, which rocked the Israeli justice system, where Naveh thoroughly corrupted the Israeli Committee for Selection of Judges. However, upon inspection of the Rishon Magistrate Court's file, it was discovered that no conviction had been lawfully entered. Rishon Magistrate Judge E. Ron provided evasive, unreasonable decisions in response to Dr Zernik's requests to inspect the conviction document... In Petition for Leave to Appeal 17690-12-22 Human Rights Alert NGO v State of Israel, Effi Naveh and Administration of Courts the Central District Court ordered the Administration of Courts to correct the "problem." Judge E. Ron had passed away in the meanwhile, and the Administration of Courts uploaded to Net HaMishpat (case management system of the courts) a "scanned" conviction document - an invalid document in Net HaMishpat.
In July 2024 - Dr Zernik documented in a personal court action, Small Claim 45004-03-24 Zernik v Bank HaPoalim LTD, even before the onset of litigation, that the Tel Aviv Small Claims Court had unlawfully entered a hidden unlawful designation of Defendant Bank HaPoalim's counsel in the case - outside law firm Yosef Yeshurun. In response the Administration of Courts issued an unusual document: A July 8, 2024 fake/simulated Internal Audit letter, purportedly concluding the review of a fake/simulated Complaint 386/2024 of May 26, 2024, purportedly by Dr Zernik, which he had never filed. The review document tried to whitewash the case, but failed to mention the fundamental issue: The unlawful, hidden entry of outside law firm Yosef Yeshurun as counsel for Defendamt Bank HaPoalim, in a case, where entry of counsel is permitted only by a special court decision.
In September 2024 - Dr Zernik documented a second case of a fake/simulated Administration of Court Internal Review complaint procedure: The September 4, 2024 letter from Administration of Court Internal Review, purportedly concluded the review of a fake/simulated Complaint 628/2024 of August 1, 2024, purportedly by Dr Zernik, which he had never filed. The review document tried to whitewash, over a decade late, the fake/simulated April 4, 2013 Protocol (minutes) of the Haifa Family Court in of the fake/simulated April 4, 2013 court hearing in Conservator 1829-06-10/Conservator 25607-03-13 court files. This fake/simulated electronic court record, which is thoroughly false in its content, bears a unique "Not Signed Yet" watermark on its face. The Administration of Courts Internal Review letter concluded: "... since there is no such built-in "... Not Signed Yet" watermark in the [Net HaMishpat] system, it is possible that the watermark was manually added, or was the outcome of an fault in the system". The letter implied that the watermark was a local product of the Haifa Magistrate Court. Such response suggests that around 2013 Net HaMishpat was hacked by unknown persons in the Haifa Magistrate Court, features of Net HaMishpat system were adulterated in order to invalidate court records, which were nevertheless filed, entered, and served as lawful court records.
