Pini Cohen. 'I, too, am a citizen'
Photo: Guy Asayag
Beinish following the assault
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Man who threw shoe at Beinish says it was 'cry for help'
Pini Cohen, who broke Supreme Court president's glasses when he threw his shoe at her, tells his version of events in court. 'I had no intention of hurting her. I wanted to shout out, "I, too, am citizen of State of Israel,"' he says
Shoe-throwing as a cry for help. Pini Cohen, charged with assaulting Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish after he threw his shoe at her face, told his life story for many hours Thursday in the Jerusalem Magistrates Court.
He said, "Someone who wants to attack doesn't throw a shoe. It was a cry for help."
This week, Cohen tried to overtake the judge physically as he shouted swears and slurs at her. He was stopped by court security.
Cohen gave his testimony before the court, and recounted his life story, including the events leading up to his divorce from his wife, the child support payments he couldn't make, and his estrangement from his children, who cut off contact with him and even declined to invite him to their weddings. He aired a number of gripes with the court and Justice Philip Marcus, whom he claims put him in the situation he is in currently.
According to Cohen, about a month before the shoe-throwing incident, he attended a hearing before the Supreme Court president during which he shouted at her, "You can't just throw me like a yehudon (derogatory term for a Jewish person) to the street. I'm a citizen, not a yehudon."
Following this outburst, he was arrested by court security. Four weeks later, his case was making headlines.
"I arrived at the president's hall, I don't know how, but it just happened," he described. "I didn't have any intention of hurting her. The development of events here in past years shows how much patience I had for courts and lawyers and how much I was led astray. I wanted them to help me. I wanted to yell, 'Enough already. I am also a citizen of the State of Israel.'"
Cohen told the court why he was angry with Beinish: "These are my children here and the treatment they received. She could have sat and said, 'Guys, these are children.' When I see a child in the street in need of help, even if he's not mine, even if he's a stranger, I help him. This whole story was unnecessary. Why did they need to abuse me and my children? I have never raised my hand against anyone in my life."
