ַPhoto credit: Reuven Taibe
Wednesday , April 30, 21:18 Two couples from Yitzhar are currently being held in remand (due to the fact that their cars are similar to the car that was identified as being involved with a “Price Tag” incident). The police are preventing them from meeting with an attorney. One of the families’ children were left without their parents and the family cars were impounded. Honenu asks: Is it enough to be a resident of Yitzhar and the owner of a white car to be automatically a suspect? To where have the rights of detainees being interrogated and the laws of judging evidence disappeared?
The police hysteria surrounding Yitzhar and “Price Tag” incidents is growing. On Wednesday, April 30 the police detained two couples from Yitzhar, who are in their 30’s and parents of young children, on suspicion of “abetting a crime”. One of the couples’ five children were left at home without their parents, the two family cars were impounded and the police are preventing the detained parents from meeting with an attorney.
The cause for their detention is the fact that they are residents of Yitzhar and their cars resemble the the car that was recorded by security cameras at a “Price Tag” incident in which a door of a mosque in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm was set on fire approximately two weeks ago.
One of the couples was detained the evening of April 30 in Yitzhar by police detectives and Yassam (Special Forces) from the Department of Nationalist Crime of the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police. The policemen arrived with a tow truck and impounded the family car, which was parked near the house, without presenting a warrant. Afterwards the detectives entered the family’s home without a warrant and informed the couple that they were being detained for interrogation. Neighbors were called to watch the children as their parents were separated and each one taken by police into a separate police vehicle.
Friends of the families describe the situation. “It is obvious that the police don’t have any evidence against them. What’s happening here is a scandal. Policemen come without a warrant, take cars, detain parents and leave their children home alone.”
The other couple from Yitzhar who was detained had been summoned last week for interrogation at the Ariel Police Station, however they were not interrogated about the above mentioned incident. Their interrogators harassed them with strange questions on a wide range of subjects. After the interrogation and a long wait at the police station they were released and summoned to an additional interrogation, this time at the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police. In response the couple sent a letter to the police in which they objected to the abuse to which the police were subjecting them and the degrading treatment they had received. The couple was summoned again for interrogation and when they appeared at the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police for the interrogation on April 30 they were detained. Their car was also impounded.
Honenu announced that it would file an urgent appeal to the court on the decision of the police to prevent the detainees from meeting with an attorney.
This case is reminiscent of a case in which a Glock pistol was identified in a video clip recorded by a security camera as the weapon which a Jew used to shoot Arab terrorists who attacked him near the Arab village of Arak Burin. Policemen from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police detained or arrested many Jews throughout Yehuda and Shomron whom the police suspected solely because they owned a Glock, the same make of pistol which a Jew who defended himself against terrorists used.
Update, Thursday, May 1, 7:55: After intense efforts Honenu has succeeded in achieving the release of one of the couples. Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir is representing the detainees on behalf of Honenu.