Sunday, October 18, 2015, 10:12 On the evening of Saturday, October 17, approximately
“Meleva malka”
participants, Photo credit:
“Forum Arevut Yehudit”
200 people attended a post-Shabbat “meleva malka” event opposite the Hadarim Detention Center in Even Yehuda in support of the Shomron residents who were detained while chasing a terrorist who threw rocks at a car being driven by a resident of Yitzhar near the gate of the community on October 14.
The event, which was arranged by the “Forum Arevut Yehudit” (“Jewish Mutual-help Forum”) organization, was attended by the detainees’ families and supporters from all over Israel. Yermiyahu, a popular Israeli singer, sang as the participants danced.
Rabbi Menachem Lazer, the father of Avi, one of the Yitzhar residents detained on October 14, spoke at the event: “I would like to express my support of my son and his wife, who gave birth only two weeks ago, and of the rest of the detainees, and to tell them that the People of Israel stand behind them, and that they deserve a medal, not a remand sentence.”
Yissca, the wife of Aryeh Tessler from Elon Moreh, said that she is proud of her husband
Some of the detainees’ families, Photo credit: “Forum Arevut Yehudit”
and his dedication to helping others. She is certain that if the incident had occurred in Ra’anana or Petah Tikva he would be the “hero of the day”, but due to the treatment of Shomron residents by the Yehuda and Shomron Police, he and the other detainees are still in remand.
Yissca expressed her disappointment that at a time when all of Israel is fighting for its right to exist, the police insist on harshly treating those who volunteer to save Jewish lives. She says that by rights the police should apologize, release the detainees and free up police time to deal with Israel’s enemies, wherever they are throughout the country.
The police are attempting to link the detainees to an incident in which a British anarchist and an Arab were injured in the olive grove in which the terrorist is suspected to have been. The incident took place after the Shomron residents were detained. The court partially accepted the plea by Honenu attorney Aharon Roza, who is representing the detainees, and ruled that there is no evidence linking them to the incident.
Nonetheless, on October 15, Petah Tikva Magistrate Court Judge Nachum Sternlicht ruled that there is a reasonable suspicion that the detainees obstructed a policeman in the line of duty and resisted detention. In accordance with the ruling, he extended the remand of the three adult detainees by five days.
Honenu reports that: “It is very sad to see that at a time when the entire country is a front-line and everyone is a soldier, the police are harassing citizens who chased a terrorist, and presenting them as criminals. We hope that the system will come to its senses and quickly release the detainees. We recommend that the resources currently invested in the Department of Jewish Nationalist Crime be diverted to combating the rampant Arab terror.”