Honenu Attorney Nati Rom; Photo credit: Honenu
Monday, April 22, 2024, 18:49 On the morning of April 22 (the Passover holiday began at sundown), two brothers, minors aged 15 and 17, in possession of a goat kid, were detained near the Givat Mordechai neighborhood of Jerusalem on suspicion of planning to perform the Passover sacrifice. They were taken to a local police station for interrogation. By 12:30, Honenu’s headquarters had received reports of six more individuals detained on the same grounds, some of them with goat kids. Shortly before 13:30, a 13-year-old youth was detained at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem under similar circumstances. Honenu Attorneys Nati Rom and Moshe Poleski assisted the detainees. All eight detainees were released by 18:00.
Three other detainees were initially going to be held in remand over the Passover holiday. However, shortly before 19:00, they were released following pressure and intervention from senior officials. In late afternoon, an interrogations officer at the Merhav David (Old City) Police Station, Meir Pahima, informed Honenu Attorneys Rom and Poleski that three of the Hozrim L’Har (Returning to the [Temple] Mount) activists detained for planning to perform the Passover sacrifice would remain in remand over the holiday. This decision was contrary to a long series of legal decisions reached over the past few years regarding detention and arrests of minors.
Honenu Attorneys Moshe Poleski and Nati Rom severely criticized the decision to detain the Hozrim L’Har activists: “This outrageous detention is purely revenge. The Israel Police intentionally delayed the interrogation of the youths in order to prevent judicial review of the detention, which is illegal and unnecessary for the investigation. It is based on considerations of revenge. The youths did not commit any crime. Their detention is completely contradicted by legal decisions.”