1st thought: Just because there are no charges pending against the Dad and he appears to be a stand up guy in the community, that doesn't mean he is a good father. The kids could have perfectly reasonable reasons, other than spousal abuse, to not see their father. In fact, the father's seeming indifference to the children's plight (going to Israel? Really?) suggests to me that there could be significant emotional abuse and neglect.
2nd thought: I agree that, if this is the mother's fault, the mother should be on punished. However, using her punishment as leverage against the children is not acceptable. If she is incarcerated for poisoning the children against the father, it needs to be clear to the children that her punishment cannot be altered by their behavior.
3rd: Being high handed and a control freak with teenagers is not even remotely acceptable. As an authority figure, the judge needs to be able to understand and work with rebellious teenagers. Her actions and behavior are not helping this situation, nor will they do any good when dealing with any rebellious and stubborn teenager.
Yes, she has the power to act like that. Yes, the teenagers should (and in many cases, need) to learn to respect that power. That doesn't mean it's going to work. All she's doing is pissing off a kid to a point where they will never respect her, anyone like her or authority figures in general. You treat a teenager like that, you create a monster and you accomplish nothing.
