HOUSTON,
TX -
April 26, 2012. A federal court in
Houston this week held its first hearing on a $20 million lawsuit alleging
systematic torture upon divorced fathers in the Israeli judicial and welfare
systems. This is one of four lawsuits
which Israeli fathers have filed in the United States and Europe. Legal consultants are also helping the
Israeli fathers prepare to file lawsuits in Canada. David Weisskopf, the plaintiff in the Houston
case, describes the Israeli environment as an ‘open season’ on divorced
fathers.
“Men are literally dying,” says
Weisskopf. He points out how 45 froze to
death on the “tropical” streets in Israel last winter and that the suicide rate
among divorced fathers is more than 250 times higher than the overall Israeli
population. “These statistics are by far
the world’s worst and are thanks to all the lobbying, training and ongoing consultation from the defendants.”
In an unprecedented move, the Houston court
is allowing Weisskopf to add parties to his lawsuit regardless of their
citizenship. This opens the door for
Israeli fathers to join the American lawsuit as well as immigrant fathers who
have endured torture in the Israeli judiciary or welfare system. The diversity of plaintiffs will show how
widespread and systematic the torture has become in the Israeli judicial and
welfare systems.
Nearly two dozen Israeli bureaucrats and
their donors have been named as defendants between the four lawsuits –
including Israel’s minister of welfare, minister of justice and even a Supreme
Court judge. However, the plaintiffs may
have a right to add more defendants which then implicates more Israeli
bureaucrats and their American donors.
Though all the current defendants have been
summoned in the American lawsuits, some of them have not yet filed their
appearances. Israeli defendants who fail
to appear in American courts may have default judgments entered against them. Plaintiffs may then petition Israeli courts
to enforce default foreign judgments.
Legal consultants assisting these fathers in
Israel plan to use the same tactics against these Israeli bureaucrats to
enforce judgments which the Israeli bureaucrats commonly use to harass divorced
fathers in Israel - who cannot declare bankruptcy when these bureaucrats drive
them into destitution. These tactics
include, stop-orders from leaving the country, revoking driver’s licenses,
freezing assets including bank accounts, arrests at 2am and imprisonment in
debtor’s prison, garnishing all wages except $375 per month, calling in
employers to testify in court, and seeking similar court orders against family
members.
Two of the bureaucrats involved in the
lawsuits forced Weisskopf to endure an interrogation at their office within
hours of his emergency surgery. The
interrogation lasted an hour though he was suffering from a fractured sinus and
bone cyst at the time. Weisskopf
recorded the meeting audibly, superimposed visual animation and posted a
three-part satire on YouTube:
To date the three-part satire has received
over 100,000 views ranking them 40th place as the most-viewed
Israeli videos on YouTube. Weisskopf’s
inbox has been flooded with messages from police and social workers worldwide
denouncing the brutal treatment he endured at the hands of Israeli
bureaucrats. Meanwhile Israeli
authorities have stonewalled efforts to investigate wrong-doing by their
bureaucrats.
The international contact for these lawsuits
is the Coalition for Children and the Family in Israel (www.ccfisrael.org). Jury
trial on the first lawsuit has been set for May-June 2013.
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