Yeshivat Homesh, rabbis and students; Photo credit: Yeshivat Homesh
Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 7:55 Three years ago, B’tselem publicized a false claim that Yeshivat Homesh students hung a Palestinian youth by his arms from a tree and burned his feet. This claim was further publicized by journalist Gideon Levi in Haaretz. Levi claimed that when a Palestinian youth by the name of Tareq Zubeidi came to picnic at a site near Homesh, students from the yeshiva hung him by his arms from a tree, burned his feet as he was hanging, and also sprayed tear gas in his face. In light of the publication, Yeshivat Homesh sued Levi for libel in the Bat Yam Magistrates Court.
One month ago, the Bat Yam Magistrates Court ruled that although Levi is not guilty of libel, his writing in Haaretz does not correspond to the evidence in the case. In light of the ruling, Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado wrote a letter to B’tselem, on whom Levi relied as eyewitnesses to the incident in Homesh, demanding that they remove the mendacious publications in which they mentioned the incident. According to NGO Monitor, the publications received extensive coverage in the international media and were discussed in UN institutions and European parliaments, among other places. Attorney Yado underscored in his letter that if B’tselem does not comply with the demand, Yeshivat Homesh will sue them for libel.
At the court hearings, Attorney Yado presented evidence that completely refuted Levi’s claims, including photographs of Zubeidi showing him in an IDF jeep after the incident with his eyes wide open, which contradicts the claim that the had been tear-gassed and on the verge of fainting. The IDF operation report cites that the soldiers at the scene did not detect the use of tear gas at the incident. Additionally, Attorney Yado presented a medical document from a Palestinian hospital on the day of the incident in which there is no mention of burns, thereby refuting the claim of burning Zubeidi’s feet. Attorney Yado also revealed that according to the company commander in the relevant zone, Zubeidi admitted under questioning that he had arrived with his friends intending to throw rocks at the yeshiva students and not to aimlessly take a walk around the area.
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado: “Stories from B’tselem about ‘settler violence’ caused great damage to Israel’s image and that of Yehuda and Shomron communities in particular. At least we proved that one of the stories that resonated widely throughout the world and reached as far as the UN General Assembly was mendacious and completely unfounded.”