Honenu Attorney Yado; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, December 30, 2025, 9:50 The Jerusalem Magistrates Court awarded compensation to a homeless Jewish man who was illegally and violently removed by the Israel Police from a public park where he was living near King David’s Tomb in Jerusalem. The court also ruled that the park is not the property of the Greek Orthodox Church, and they may not prevent entry to it. The State of Israel will pay the claimant, who is being represented by Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado, NIS 10,000.
In June 2023, a representative of the Greek Orthodox Church claimed that the plaintiff was trespassing on their property and demanded that he leave. He refused, and then the representative summoned the police. When police officers arrived, the plaintiff argued with them. The officers forcibly removed him and took him into the police station, hand- and leg-cuffed, in view of passers-by.
The plaintiff filed an NIS 30,000 suit over assault, claiming that he had been living in the park for a long time and that it was public property. The Jerusalem Magistrates Court accepted his claim and awarded him compensation, stating that, “There is no argument that the property is designated as public and open property. Open, public property is what its name indicates: property that any individual may pass through and stay in for a reasonable period of time.”
Attorney Yado reacted to the ruling: “Today, the court ruled that the police had enforced a non-existent law regarding the public area adjacent to King David’s Tomb. The public is invited, en masse, to exercise their legal right to enter the public park to pray and stay there as with any other public site in Jerusalem.”