During a court hearing regarding some of the detainees suspected of involvement in an arson attack at the Duma Village last summer, it turned out that the Shabak interrogators did not allow them to put on tefillin (phylacteries) and light Hanukkah candles, Srugim reported. Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi David Chai Hacohen have appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the violation of the detainees’ civil rights.
Dozens of the comrades of the Shabak detainees suspected of setting fire to a house in the Duma Village, demonstrated in front of the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court Tuesday, carrying signs reading “Stop the Abuse of Jews,” and “Fight Against Terrorism Not Against Jews.”
During hearings in the case of some of the detainees Tuesday it was revealed that they were not allowed to put on tefillin and light Chanukah candles. Attorneys Benzi Kovler and Hai Haber, representing the detainees on behalf of legal aid society Honenu, demanded that their clients be granted their basic religious rights of putting on tefillin and lighting Hanukkah candles.
On Monday, attorney Adi Kedar of Honenu appealed to the investigative authorities with a request that they allow the detainees to light Hanukkah candles, but as it turned out it didn’t happen.
Attorney Hai Haber said in response: “We understand that the prisoners are denied not only medical care but there is widespread discrimination both in the conduct of the investigation, and the failure to allow them to maintain their religious observance. We hope someone will put an end to this thing.”
Attorney Kovler said in response that he protests the abuse of his client and the severe violation of his rights. “I have an ever growing feeling that the allegations against my client are not connected to reality. The connection between him and this affair is totally vague and detached, if any connection exists at all. There is no progress in the investigation as we see it, and I hope he will be released soon. The Violations of his rights as a person under interrogation and his religious rights are extremely serious,” Kovler said.
Earlier, following the rumors of abuse and torture of the Jewish prisoners, Religious Zionist spiritual leaders Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi David Chai Hacohen sent an urgent letter to the Prime Minister. In it, the rabbis asked the PM to not lose his bearings and not torture prisoners whose guilt has not been proven. The rabbis said that Jews, too, deserve human dignity.
At the end of their letter, the rabbis wrote that in these days, when Arab terror hits us all over the country, our responsibility to defend the dignity of Jews is even greater, and they blessed the Prime Minister that he may be inspired by the Hasmoneans who raised the dignity of Israel among the nations, and that as it happened then we will also merit to receive miracles in our time.