Senior rabbis write letter in support of Ariel detainee

For links to additional items about the brutal attack and Honenu’s representation of the heroic Ariel resident who was detained when he reported to the Ariel Police Station to give testimony and file a complaint against the Arabs who threatened his life and that of the children who were with him, please click here.

Senior rabbis from “Torat HaAretz HaTova” wrote a letter decrying the detention of the Ariel resident who defended a group of children walking just outside the fence of Ariel.

Please see below a translation by Honenu of the letter.

Sivan 27, 5782 (June 26, 2022)

G-d seeks out the pursued! (Ecc. 3:15)

A. For many months we have witnessed Arabs rioting in Lod, Ramle, Acco, and dozens of other places throughout the State of Israel.

B. An unacceptable practice has been established by the Israel Police and the GSS: detaining specifically the Jewish residents who defend their lives and those of their families and not the rioting Arabs.

C. Recently, a group of hikers went on a walk outside of Ariel and were brutally attacked by armed Arab rioters.

Instead of immediately detaining the Arabs, a Jew who defended himself and the group of hikers was detained and taken in for interrogation by the GSS.

D. We are turning to you with decisive and uncompromising demands:

1. Cease the practice of detaining the attacked and immediately release the detainee, unconditionally! The attacked victims may be summoned for police interrogation, with the understanding that they acted in self-defense. They must be granted all of the rights of interrogatees, such as meeting with an attorney.

2. The rioters must be immediately detained and brought to trial!

3. Detention and interrogation by the GSS which involve force applied as torture create a situation in which a victim attacked by nationalistically motivated rioters, if he dares to defend himself, will be suspected of nationalistically motivated assault! This moral injustice is inconceivable!

E. The State of Israel must be the epitome of judicial integrity!

G-d willing, soon we will merit the promise of the prophet:

“Afterward, you will be called the city of justice, the faithful city. (Isaiah 1:26)

Directorate of Rabbanei Torat HaAretz HaTova [the signatories]:

Rabbi Chaim Drukman, shlita; Rabbi Dov Lior, shlita; Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel, shlita; Rabbi Chaim Steiner, shlita; Rabbi David Chai HaCohen, shlita; Rabbi Mordechai Sternberg, shlita; Rabbi Eitan Eisman, shlita; Rabbi Yosef Artziel, shlita; Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, shlita; Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, shlita, Chief Rabbi of the Shomron; Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, shlita; Rabbi David Dudkevitch, shlita

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