Honenu Director Zangi Meidad; Photo credit: Honenu
Thursday, February 15, 2024, 12:32 Recently, America imposed sanctions on several Israeli citizens, and subsequently various Israeli banks froze some of their accounts. Honenu hired the law firm Dr. J. Weinroth & Co. to assist the families of the citizens on whom sanctions were imposed. Funds were raised in a campaign for one of the families. However, the Cal credit company announced their intention to cancel the fundraising deal. On behalf of the family, Attorneys Meir Abraham and Yagel David of Dr. J. Weinroth & Co. filed a suit against the credit company. On Wednesday (February 14), the Tel Aviv District Court issued a temporary injunction against the Cal credit company, preventing them from canceling the fundraising appeal and returning the raised funds to the donors. The court set a date for a hearing on the suit for the following week.
In the suit, Attorneys Meir Abraham and Yagel David warned that if the court allows credit companies to return funds to donors, that will open the door to discriminating against many Israeli citizens: “This is a framework program to which additional Israeli citizens may be added and by which they will be discriminated against when the time comes, according to the wishes of the President of America and in accordance with his exclusive discretion. That is to say, the future holds for us not only the potential of damage to the civil rights of previous plaintiffs but also the future detriment to many Israeli citizens, among them hundreds of thousands of minors who could find themselves, if the order is given, discriminated against and under an extremely draconian regime of sanctions, solely due to an [American] executive order that was received in connection to their parents, who are responsible for their needs. That is without their parents, and certainly not them, being granted the right to plead their case and receive a hearing. What is even more absurd, many children, Israeli citizens, who never had any connection to America, are liable to find themselves lacking food and shelter, only because of restrictions placed on one of their parents, citizens of the State of Israel to prevent them from fulfilling their personal needs and those of their children, through an Israeli [bank account], under an order from a foreign country.”
The attorneys cited in the suit that the credit company refused to transfer funds to the family, even though the family does not have any connection to the executive order, and therefore they were forced to urgently request a temporary injunction: “The unilateral actions of the defendants cause great damage to the plaintiffs, in fact – the loss of the donations which were received for them, valued at hundreds of thousands of shekels, and that is without a legal basis or justification or any other justifiable reason for it – not in accordance with the law or with the prevailing rulings. The funds are not connected to Mr. Levi, on whom the sanctions were imposed, but rather intended for the sustenance of his minor dependants, and his wife. Therefore, … the defendants acted against the law when they announced that the funds would be returned to the donors.”
Attorney Meir Abraham of the law firm Dr. J Weinroth & Co. stated, “The court did well to grant the requested assistance for the minors and prevent the injustice of returning the donated funds that were collected for them. We will continue to act in the legal arena to prevent various parties from illegally violating the basic rights of Israeli citizens while they justify their actions with a claim of voluntary broad adherence to ‘American sanctions’.”
Honenu director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad added, “We welcome the court’s decision. We hope and believe that this is only the first success in the fight to rectify the situation. No foreign country, and all the more so not a so-called ‘friend’ of Israel, should be able to impose a policy on the sovereign State of Israel, certainly not on the backs of the finest of her sons who are sacrificing their lives for this sovereignty.”