Business in Brief

One day the Aluf family discovered that their lawyer, empowered in theory to act on their behalf, had signed a "combination deal" on land they owned in Netanya. The land, near Ben-Gurion Boulevard, is zoned for the construction of 16 apartments, and was co-owned by the Alufs and a company called Netz. In the course of breaking up their partnership, Netz sought to buy out the Alufs, whose lawyer Jacob Tor instead negotiated the "combination deal" - Netz would develop the site, in exchange for which the Alufs would own some of the apartments. The snag was, he didn't tell the Alufs, who live in the United States only discovered the deal when they visited Israel in 2005. They sued to cancel the agreement and got their land back. (Guy Liberman)

Court stenographers have been on strike since last Thursday and the chief casualties of their sanctions are the people on trial. Lawyers complain that the judges aren't replacing the stenos by writing down every syllable at the hearings. And then there's the issue of financial damage. Some judges are forcing the defendants to hire stenographers to record the proceedings out of their own pocket, claimed Bar Association chief Yori Geiron in a letter to Courts Administration manager Moshe Gal. Geiron would like Gal to issue a letter forbidding judges to force defendants to hire and pay for stenographers: They should not have to bear the brunt of the squabble in the courts system, he argued. (Nurit Roth and Haim Bior)

The National Workers Organization is threatening to sue incarcerated former finance minister Abraham Hirchson over a bad check written for NIS 48,000. On Sunday, Hirchson, who used to chair the NWO, advised the organization via his lawyer that liens had been placed on his assets, and therefore the check couldn't be honored. The NWO deposited it anyway and lo, it bounced. The organization has given Hirchson seven days to hand over the money or it will take steps, it says. It also demands that he exchange all the postdated checks it holds for one check to be cashed on the spot. (Nurit Roth)

Tadiran Telecoms, which specializes in integrating telecommunications systems, is acquiring Xphone 018 for $10 million. Xphone is Israel's smallest lnog-distance carrier. Active since 2004, it has garnered roughly 4% of the local market.Xphone positions itself as a low-cost carrier, undercutting its rivals in price, yet it never managed to grow out of niche status. Its revenues for the first six months of 2009 came to just NIS 4.9 million, on which it netted NIS 1.2 million. The acquisition is an ironic twist of fate: A year and a half ago Xphone had been thinking of buying Tadiran Telecom. (Amitai Ziv)

After nine years of hosting the television show "Garlic, Pepper and Olive Oil" on Channel 1, master chef Haim Cohen is moving to Keshet, one of the two companies broadcasting Channel 2. Cohen will be hosting a cooking show on Fridays together with actress-singer Marina Maximilian Blumin. Other channels have been trying to lure Cohen away from Channel 1 for years but he always turned down the offers, saying he didn't want to have to bow before advertising interests. (There are no ads on Channel 1, and are on channels 2 and 10). What changed? His contract ran out and wasn't renewed, he says. "Channel 1 was my home. That's where I learned all I know about television. They have their problems and I can't sit at home waiting until they solve them." Channel 1 refused to comment. (Ophir Bar-Zohar)