Honenu Attorney Hajbi; Photo credit: Honenu
Monday, June 15, 2020 10:05 The detainees accused of involvement with an incident on Shabbat (June 13) in Hevron will be brought in the coming hours to deliberations at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court. Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi and Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, who censured the police, will demand that they be released from remand today.
Honenu Attorney Hajbi, who is representing six of the detainees: “Relying on an incomplete and tendentious video clip recorded by Palestinians is an injustice to the people filmed in it. In any event, the suspects whom I am representing do not have any connection to the recorded incident.”
Attorney Ben Gvir, who is representing additional detainees: “There is no doubt that if similar events had occurred in Netanya, Be’er Sheva or Tel Aviv no-one would have brought the matter to a remand extension. In my opinion, the police fell into a trap set by some of the Arabs who simply provoked, attacked and threw rocks at Jews. In the end the police, who saw only half of the picture, detained specifically the Jews. In any event we hope that the court will act as the law requires and not according to the public mudslinging. When one looks at the incident from a legal standpoint, there is absolutely no reason to hold my client in remand for one minute.”
Monday, June 15, 2020 13:08 Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Bialin Elazar rejected the police request to extend by four days the remand of three minors suspected of involvement with the incident in Hevron. Judge Elazar ruled that the minors will stay in remand until Wednesday and then be released to several days of house arrest at their homes.
During the deliberation it became known that the police had video clips of the entire incident, and that the video clips publicized in the media were incomplete, and did not present the entire incident. Additionally it became known that the minors were detained on the basis of intelligence information only, and not on the basis of solid evidence.
Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi, who represented the three detained minors, stated after the deliberation: “It turned out after the deliberation that the video clip distributed in the media documented only part of the incident. The beginning of the incident, as seen in footage from cameras in the hands of the police, and not in the tendentious video clip edited by biased Palestinians, starts with one person shoving another and the complainant who was walking by, being shoved by the first person who was shoved. From this we see that it was a scuffle, and not an attack as the Israeli Police attempted to depict the situation, and all the more so not a racially motivated attack. We are pleased that the court has already decided the release conditions of my clients.”
Monday, June 15, 2020 16:01 The Jerusalem Magistrates Court gave the validity of a decision to an agreement between the sides that the adult who was suspected of involvement with the incident in Hevron will be released on Wednesday to his home, similarly to the decision which was made concerning the minors.
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom, who represented the adult: “My client is not connected to the incident. I am pleased that also in his case we reached an agreement according to which the investigation will be given one more day to come to a close, and after that, on Wednesday, my client will be released to his home and the story will be behind us.”
Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 15:54 On the morning of Wednesday, June 17, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ordered the release of the adult detained on suspicion of involvement with the scuffle in Hevron on Saturday. He was represented by Attorney Ariel Atari, who was hired by Honenu. At the deliberation the police requested a five-day remand extension for the adult. Atari pointed out the flaws in the investigation and the fact that there had been no developments in the investigation over the past few days.
In the decision Judge Elazar noted that although the adult had given an alibi while under interrogation, it had not been examined by the police and the police explicitly admitted that it was impossible to identify him in the video clip of the incident. The court ordered the release of the adult on bail to several days of house arrest.
Attorney Atari: “The court released a young man who does not have a criminal record of any kind. The court returned to correct proportions a case in which a man was detained only for the public relations needs of the Israeli Police.”
Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 18:34 The Jerusalem Magistrates Court rejected the police request to extend by five days the remand of the three minors suspected of involvement with the scuffle in Hevron last Shabbat. The minors were released on bail to several days of house arrest. During the deliberation Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi revealed that the Palestinian who clashed with Jews during the incident, Ibrahim Badar, shared on his Facebook page a photograph of Hitler in protest of the march which was held with the participation of Prime Minister Netanyahu and other leaders after the January 2015 terror attack on the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris. Hajbi requested that the police representative examine the criminal record of the Palestinian and whether or not he had been involved with additional incidents.
In the decision Magistrates Court Judge Bialin Elazar noted that the part which the minors took in the incident is not clear and that the fact that they are minors and students should be taken into account during the matriculation (Bagrut) exam period, and that their educational advancement should not be excessively hindered.
Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi: “From the very start the police should have examined the background of the complainant. It turns out that, as one sees from his Facebook account, the complainant is far from irreproachable. In any event the court ordered the release of the suspects, which unequivocally indicates the weakness of the evidence.”
Attorney Ariel Atari; Video credit: Honenu