A guy was stopped by the police while driving for a random check (they do that a lot here in Israel). The law is that until age 21, you can only drive a maximum of 2 other people in the car. This guy had four passengers in the car, and it was two days he would turn 21.
The driver, Frankel, claimed that his Hebrew birthday had already passed two weeks earlier, hence he was allowed to drive with four passengers as he is already 21. The police did not accept the argument and gave him a ticket to come to court, where they request his license be suspended.
In court, Frankel's lawyer explained that in the haredi community they only use Hebrew dates, so Frankel really considered himself 21, and being that Israel is a Jewish country, "it is impossible to argue with the fact that he was already 21 at the time of the incident".
The judge accepted the argument, and let him off, saying Frankel clearly acted in good faith and considered himself 21 because of the Hebrew calendar.
Only in Israel...
That is a good story.
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
ReplyDeleteShaul Mofaz tried this a few years ago when his "תקופת צינון" didn't run out in time for him to run for knesset. It went to the supreme court, but I don't remember what they said. I would imagine that since he served as defense minister without being an MK, they didn't accept the argument.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like based on the facts of the case we know about the case. I hope he would have held the same way if his hebrew birthday came after his english birthday.
ReplyDelete