On Sunday deliberation began before a K’far Saba Magistrate Court on the case of Rabbi Asher Vodka, dean of the Bat Yam Yeshiva Gevoha and member of the local Garin Torani (Religious Zionist group working in underdeveloped communities), whose house was broken into last week by policemen with a warrant for his arrest. The judge acquiesced to the defendants’ request and postponed the continuation of the deliberation for five months, the Zionist legal aid organization Honenu reported.
Rabbi Vodka and the other defendants in the case are accused of illegally staying in the demolished village of Homesh in Samaria some two years ago.
Last week, Police arrived at Rabbi Vodka’s home with an arrest warrant on the charge that he had not appeared at the K’far Saba Magistrate Court for a deliberation on his case. The policemen knocked on his front door and were answered by Vodka’s wife, who told the cops that he was not home.
The policemen were not satisfied with her reply and began to break down the door. Mrs. Vodka and her small children sheltered themselves in one of the inner rooms of the house.
Meanwhile, numerous residents of the area, including members of the Garin Torani, arrived on the scene and protested the Police conduct. Disturbances developed during which the police reacted violently, hitting and pepper spraying the protesters. Three Garin Torani members were arrested and later released.
The following day, Honenu attorney Rehavia Piltz filed a request with K’far Saba Magistrate Court Judge Dana Marshak-Marom demanding that the warrant she had signed be canceled on the grounds that Rabbi Vodka had not received the summons to the deliberation at which he was supposed to appear and that if he had, he would have appeared.
The judge accepted the request and canceled the warrant.
On Sunday, the defendants requested that the continuation of the deliberations be postponed, to give them time to read the charge sheet. The judge agreed and postponed the deliberations for five months.