In an extraordinary ruling, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that United Hatzalah and the leaders of the organization conducted an orderly and planned campaign, in which they defamed the name of the Magen David Adom organization through false and defamatory publications - and therefore will pay extraordinary damages in the amount of 250,000 shekels.
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In the ruling, which spans 42 pages, Judge Naftali Shiloh harshly criticizes United Hatzalah.
Regarding the publications carried out by the United Hatzalah association for its telephone number, the court ruled: "It has been proven that United Hatzalah ignored the Ministry of Health's directive and continued to publish its emergency number 1221. This action is dangerous and harms public safety, as determined in the State Comptroller's report and in the Ministry of Health circulars.""
Referring to the conduct of the association and three of its leaders, it was determined: "This is a series of offensive publications that were part of an organized and planned campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the use of United Hatzalah's services while defaming and disparaging MDA.".
The court also ruled that "the way to change... should not have been done through a smear campaign that includes slander. This is not the way, nor is it the way of the Torah. My hope is that this lesson will be learned for the future.".
It was further determined that from the investigations of the events in which United Hatzalah reported failures in the functioning of MDA, in reality the reality is the opposite and many failures were found in the functioning and conduct of United Hatzalah.
In relation to the case of the death of a toddler in a kindergarten, the court ruled: "The investigations into the incident at the kindergarten, including the investigation conducted by United Hatzalah, indicate that there were many failures on the part of United Hatzalah. Three minutes passed before the United Hatzalah call center reported the incident to the MDA call center, and it was found that the United Hatzalah unit was missing a children's mask from its equipment. ... The defendants omitted from the publications the fact that the call was first received at the United Hatzalah call center and was transferred late to MDA.".
In the ruling, the judge attacks United Hatzalah in harsh terms, saying, among other things: "In light of the fact that United Hatzalah was founded by people who are guided by the observance of the Torah and the mitzvot, it is appropriate to quote the words of Maimonides: The sages said: Three offenses are expiated from a person in this world and he has no share in the world to come: idolatry, incest, and bloodshed; and slander - against all of them.".
The court also emphasizes the exceptional scope of the false publications - and says: "The defendant must be held responsible for the fact that these were eight publications with very wide circulation and in various media outlets, which were made with the intention of harming the plaintiff, and without the defendants having contacted MDA to request its response to the serious allegations made against her prior to publication. Furthermore, the defendants refused to apologize for these publications despite MDA contacting them in a letter that was not responded to at all. The defendants did not express any regret for their publications.".
The court found it appropriate to severely attack the personal conduct of United Hatzalah President Eli Bir, ruling that Bir published false and defamatory statements in bad faith and ordering him to pay damages, both jointly and separately with the association, from his own pocket.
In addition, the court also ordered United Hatzalah spokesman Moti Elmaleh and CEO Moshe Teitelbaum to pay compensation.
The court, which, as mentioned, did not spare harsh criticism of the conduct of the leaders of the United Hatzalah, summarizes the ruling and says: "Freedom of expression is not the freedom to insult, and the right to be heard is not the right to humiliate.".
Even in the legal proceedings, United Hatzalah did not succeed in its attempts to damage MDA's good name. In this regard, the court ruled: "After filing the lawsuit, United Hatzalah issued an announcement to the public requesting information about cases in which there were delays in MDA's arrival at emergency events. Even after this request, United Hatzalah received only five cases spanning two years. Even if everything claimed regarding these cases is true... these are five cases out of approximately 4.2 million calls.".
Magen David Adom will be represented by Attorney Ran Kedem, Attorney Amit Gelbert and Attorney Yaara Shavit from the firm of Herzog, Fox Neeman.
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Magen David Adom responded: "The verdict speaks for itself and we welcome the court's decision and are happy that the truth is finally coming to light. We regret that we were forced to resort to legal proceedings, but we cannot agree to harming the good name of Magen David Adom and the good name of its thousands of employees and volunteers who work day and night to save lives.".
The United Hatzalah stated: "We regret that public funds intended to save lives are being wasted on court proceedings, as the judge wrote in the ruling: Stop the bickering and fighting, return the swords to the quarrelers, focus solely on saving lives and not waste their money (which comes from public funds and donations) on legal disputes instead of on purchasing life-saving equipment. After all, 'Whoever saves one soul, it is written as if he saved the entire world' (Sanhedrin, Chapter 4, Mishnah 12:5).
""And unfortunately, we were dragged to court as part of our struggle for the benefit of the citizens of Israel. But everything we did and said was aimed at saving lives. We are happy that the court rejected most of MDA's claims and saw the importance of the activities of United Hatzalah volunteers for the sick and injured. We will continue to save lives while supporting each other and seeking cooperation with everyone who does so.".
Attorney Uri Shenhar, from the firm of Hadad Roth Shenhar Halper & Co., who represented United Hatzalah in proceedings against MDA, stated:
""We are pleased that the court today accepted our claims that the United Hatzalah organization is a charitable organization that works to save human lives, contrary to the slander that was spread against it, and accepted the lawsuit we filed against MDA.".
""We are also pleased that the court dismissed 90% from the lawsuit filed by MDA and accepted our claim that the lawsuit it filed was artificially inflated. We are proud to continue to represent the United Hatzalah organization, whose entire essence and activity is dedicated to saving human lives.".
