Deliberations on Bat Yam rabbi case postponed

Sunday, May 6, 15:26 Today a deliberation took place at the K’far Saba Magistrate Court on the case of Rabbi Asher Vodka, the head of the Bat Yam Yeshiva Gevoha and member of the local garin torani, whose house was broken into last week by policemen who came to arrest him. The judge acquiesced to the defendants’ request and postponed the continuation of the deliberation for five months, Honenu reports.
Rabbi Vodka and the other defendants in the case are accused of illegally staying in the destroyed community of Homesh in the northern Shomron approximately two years ago.
Last week policemen arrived at R. Vodka’s home with a writ of habeas-corpus signed by a judge for his arrest on a charge that he had not appeared at the K’far Saba Magistrate Court for a deliberation on his case. The policemen knocked on the front door and were answered by R. Vodka’s wife, who replied that he was not at home.
The policemen were not satisfied with her reply and began to break down the door. R. Vodka’s wife and small children closed themselves into one of the inner rooms of the house. Meanwhile numerous residents of the area, including members of the garin torani, arrived on the scene and protested the conduct of the police. Disturbances developed during which the police conducted themselves violently, hitting and spraying pepper gas at the protesters. Three members of the garin torani were arrested and later released throughout the evening from the police station.
The following day Honenu attorney Rehavia Piltz filed a request with K’far Saba Magistrate Court Judge Dana Marshak-Marom demanding that the writ of habeas-corpus, which she had signed, be canceled on the grounds that R. Vodka had not received the summons to the deliberation to which he was supposed to appear and that if he had he would have appeared. The judge accepted the request and canceled the writ of habeas-corpus.
Today at a deliberation at the K’far Saba Magistrate Court over which Judge Marshak-Marom presided the defendants requested that the continuation of the deliberations be postponed in order to give them time to read the charge sheet. The judge agreed to the request and postponed the continuation of the deliberations for five months.