"The Levite's Concubine in Court"—Kibbutz Yagur vs. Herut Daily

ABSTRACT: In December 1950, a story was published in the Herut Daily titled "The Levite's Concubine at Kibbutz Yagur." According to the story, a woman who had immigrated to Palestine arrived in Yagur, where she claimed one of her sons was a member. However, when it was found that she was not in fact the mother of a kibbutz member killed in the 1948 War as she had claimed, she was banished from Yagur. When the story of "The Levite's Concubine at Kibbutz Yagur" was published in the Herut Daily , Yagur members filed a civil suit and a criminal complaint. The defendants, represented by Shmuel Tamir, were eventually convicted and fined. Tamir had intended to expand the narrative of the case with an attack on the kibbutzim of the Labor-Zionists, not only for their supposed neglect of new immigrants but also for their abandonment of Irgun members during the two Saisons ("hunting seasons"). However, Tamir was held in check by the court, which sought to balance freedom of the press against the reputation of Kibbutz Yagur. This judicial stance, along with other factors, prevented the case from developing into a successful political trial for Tamir and Herut Daily , unlike the Kastner Affair several years later, from which Tamir emerged as a prominent defense attorney. The case contributes to our understanding of the court's position as an institute that enjoyed high public regard at the time.