Severe criticism by Rabbi Druckman of Kfar Duma trial

Monday, June 11, 2018, 12:00 Rabbi Chayim Druckman, the head of the Bnei Akiva yeshiva school network and a respected religious Zionist leader strongly criticized the GSS for the torture of detainees in the Kfar Duma trial. After thoroughly considering the matter Rabbi Druckman recorded a video clip,” which includes the statements, “I am shocked, pained and ashamed of the torture by the GSS during interrogation of the youths, including interrogation of minors,” and “Confessions extracted during such interrogations have no value. Who gave any backing to such cruelty?!” Rabbi Druckman transferred the video clip to Honenu director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad and requested that it be widely circulated.
Additionally, dozens of well-respected rabbis demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked stop the Kfar Duma trial and insist that an investigative committee be founded. In a related development in the case, recently the Central District Attorney’s office informed the court that they would not be including as evidence confessions by defendants that were extracted during interrogations in which “special methods”, referring to torture, had been applied.
Attorney Tzion Amir, who has been representing the minor in the case, said during the time of the trial within a trial that he hopes that the facts and the testimonies stated by the GSS agents will be revealed: “The public should be deeply shocked by the manner in which the interrogation of a minor who was accused not of a murder, but of a connection to a murder, was conducted. The interrogation was completely threats and violent measures applied in all sorts ways and by all sorts of methods. This is shocking to one’s core. It is impossible to make amends with such an interrogation in a democratic society. I hope very much that in the end the court will make a clear statement about these most fundamental matters.”
Next week the court will hand down a verdict in the trial within a trial.