Effi Naveh

After recordings surfaced, police questioned Naveh and former Tel Aviv District Court president Eitan Orenstein. Investigators examined an alleged exchange in which support for a judicial appointment would be traded for removing a judge from cases relevant to Naveh’s law firm. Suspicion is not proof.

State of the evidence

Reports document the arrests, recordings and subject of inquiry.

Legal status — source text

Police inquiry completed in October 2026; prosecutorial decision awaited.

Attribution

Alleged exchange of judicial favours with Eitan Orenstein.

In 2018, Naveh and his partner evaded normal registration procedures when entering and leaving Israel through Ben-Gurion Airport. A court convicted them in September 2022 of fraud and immigration-control offences, later sentencing them to two months’ suspended imprisonment and a NIS 2,000 fine.

State of the evidence

A Supreme Court ruling and reporting on earlier judgments substantiate the case.

Legal status — source text

Conviction became final on 2 May 2024 when the Supreme Court refused further appeal.

Attribution

Fraud and evasion of airport border-control procedures.

Course of the proceedings

1. 25.12.2018 Formally charged — Indicted for border-control offences and fraud.

Naveh was suspected of supporting judicial appointments in connection with intimate relationships. He was questioned and resigned from the Bar Association chairmanship. In March 2021, prosecutors closed the case without charging Naveh or judge Eti Craif, citing poor prospects of conviction.

State of the evidence

Prosecution announcement and contemporaneous coverage.

Legal status — source text

Case closed without indictment on 21 March 2021.

Attribution

Alleged preferential treatment in judicial appointments; no prosecution followed.