Restore Our Judges As Before
Dear Friends,
We are glad to share with the public something of the footsteps of redemption.
We, who are active in the field, often encounter the alienation of the governmental system, that acts against us in Judea and Samaria.
And now – a refreshing change, full of hope.
Last Thursday, we came to a District Court session before Judge Bar-Asher, regarding an event for which we sued the police for wayward behavior.
The following is the chain of events: On September 2, 2008, we went to protest in front of the house of GOC Central Command Gad Shamni for the issuance of administrative restraining orders keeping our people from their homes in Judea and Samaria. On the way there, at the Reut-Maccabim junction, with some of us in private cars and the rest in a bus, the police stopped us on the road. Those driving in private cars were asked to follow the police to the police station. The bus, that had set out full from Kiryat Arba-Hebron, was stopped on the claim that the bus was not in proper condition, and the bus passengers, too, were requested to go to the Modi’in police station, where we were kept for hours without any explanation, without any food, without diapers, and without Materna for the babies. Some of the people were interrogated, and others, not. We were a large group : mothers with babies, elderly people and youth, who had planned to conduct a protest vigil for about an hour before returning to their homes. We were finally released late in the night, after several incidents of police violence against the youth who were with us. We adults who protested against the violence against the youth were threatened that we, too, would be attacked.
We appealed to the court to investigate the event, that smelled of an Argentinean kidnapping, and to act against the illegal arrests and violence by the police. We came to the court this past Thursday, this time as plaintiffs and not as defendants, but this was not what was so dazzling, but our lawyers, Noam Federman and Itamar Ben Gvir. The sight was uplifting. Itamar came to the courtroom with a sal-kal baby carrier, holding a baby, in order to aid his neighbor, the plaintiff Avishag Leibman. It was a pleasure to see how the attorneys Itamar and Noam exhibited such outstanding mastery of the material. They stood like lions against the immaculately dressed State’s representative.
Their simple appearance, without pretensions, the extensive knowledge they exhibited, relying on various precedents and court sessions, left us very pleased. Just look, those from our side are entering yet another problematic arena,the judicial one, thus joining longtime attorneys from our camp like Naftali Wurzburger, Doron Nir Tzvi, Adi Kedar of Honenu, and others, who are knowledgeable, fluent in the law, and take it by storm, to best it.
The plaintiffs testified one after the other: Esther Karish and Daniella Weiss from Samaria, Ziva and Aryeh David with their month-old baby, Avner Gilboa and Avishag Leibman from Kiryat Arba.
There is still a long way to go, but the buds of redemption were really visible in the courtroom.
It is fitting for the 63rd Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel Independence Day that we see the light breaking through, little by little.
Hag Atzmaut sameah!
Happy Independence Day!
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar