DRACONIAN PROSECUTION GUIDELINES AGAINST JEWISH DISSIDENTS STILL IN USE

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli parliamentarian has admitted that the harsh prosecution guidelines implemented to arrest and indict anti-government protesters against the expulsion of 10,000 Jews in 2005 are still in use. "I was very familiar with the very harsh [prosecution] guidelines in the period of the... Read More

ISRAELI POLICE HARASS JEWISH DISSIDENTS IN NEW COMMUNITIES

KFAR SABA -- Israeli police have begun arresting Jewish dissidents in what appears to be a recent crackdown on anti-government dissent in newly formed Jewish communities in the West Bank. In recent weeks, police from the Judea and Samaria regional department have begun arresting and interrogating... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE CITES FAULTY INDICTMENT BUT SENDS JEWISH DISSIDENT BACK TO JAIL

KFAR SABA -- A young Jewish woman has been held in prison for three months on an indictment that the judge has deemed faulty. Kfar Saba Magistrate Clara Rejiniano ruled on July 2 that the indictment in the trial of Rivkah Meirchik, held until the completion... Read More

ISRAELI SUPREME COURT DOUBLES SENTENCE OF JEWISH ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTER

JERUSALEM -- In a rare decision, Israel's Supreme Court has more than doubled the punishment of a Jewish anti-government protester, sentenced by a lower court to community service for assaulting an Arab in the Gaza Strip in June 2005. The Supreme Court overturned a decision by... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE ACCEPTS POLICE EVIDENCE IN LIGHTNING HALF-MINUTE HEARING

KFAR SABA -- An Israel judge spent less than one minute to order a Jewish woman prisoner back to jail despite the lack of a formal indictment. In a move that the defense termed unprecedented, Kfar Saba Magistrate Nitza Maimon Shashua spent less a minute before... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE AGAIN POSTPONES DECISION ON RELEASE OF JEWISH DISSIDENT

KFAR SABA -- An Israeli judge postponed a decision on the release of a frail Jewish dissident who continues to languish in prison for two months despite a ruling by a higher court that her arrest was illegal. On June 1, Kfar Saba Magistrate Nitza Maimon... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE DEEMS JEWISH DISSIDENT CASE IDEOLOGICAL

KFAR SABA -- An Israeli judge has sent a Jewish dissident back to jail for another month after deeming the defendant's refusal to cooperate with the authorities an ideological crime. Rivka Meirchik, 29, who participated in Jewish settlement and was arrested almost two months ago, is... Read More

JEWISH SECURITY GUARDS BEGIN PRISON SENTENCES

JERUSALEM -- Two Jewish security guards were jailed despite a final plea to the Supreme Court to grant a stay of sentence while a presidential pardon is under consideration. The Supreme Court failed to answer the final appeal by the Dan and Yitzhak Halamish and they... Read More

ANOTHER YOUNG JEWISH WOMAN LANGUISHES IN JAIL WITHOUT TRIAL

KFAR SABA -- A young Jewish woman who participated in Jewish settlement has become the second Israeli this year to languish in prison for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors. Rivka Meirchik is the second young Jewish woman this year to languish in the Neve Tirza prison... Read More

SUPREME COURT DENIES JEWISH SECURITY GUARDS STAY OF SENTENCE

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Supreme Court has denied two Jewish security guards the right to a stay of proceedings despite a presidential plea. On May 4, Supreme Court Judge Salim Jubran rejected an appeal by the Halamish brothers to postpone judicial proceedings until President Shimon Peres considers... Read More

ISRAELI COURT ALLOWS DISSIDENT PERUSAL OF INSULT CASES

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court rejected the appeal by the state prosecution against an order to avail a defendant of one year's worth of cases of insulting a public official. Jerusalem District Court Judge Yehudit Tsur said that the material should be available to the defense... Read More

NEWS REVIEW [JAN.-MARCH 2008]

An 18 year-old Jewish teenager has remained in jail for two months without trial after she refused to cooperate with authorities. Tzvia Sariel was arrested after she threw a stone at Arabs who had come to harvest olives in her home community of Elon Moreh in the West Bank.... Read More

TWO JEWISH SECURITY GUARDS REPRIEVED AT LAST MINUTE

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli judge has given a last minute reprieve to two security officers on the eve of their sentence for protecting a Jewish community. Several hours before the two Jewish security guards, brothers Yitzhak and Dan Halamish, were due to start a prison sentence... Read More

POLICE AND PRISON AUTHORITIES MISTREAT YOUNG JEWISH GIRLS

JERUSALEM -- For the young Jewish girl, Z., her night in jail was an experience she never learned in school. Arrested at an anti-government demonstration, the Jewish teenager learned first-hand that the harsh policy of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert against Jewish dissent. ... Read More

STATE PROSECUTION ASKS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE IN INCITEMENT TO RACISM TRIAL

JERUSALEM -- Israel's state prosecution has asked for community service in the trial of a Jewish activist convicted of inciting to racism, punishable by five years. In a pre-sentencing hearing, Prosecutor Nurit Langertal Schwartz asked that Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Rivka Freedman- Feldman sentence Yekutiel Ben... Read More

JEWISH GIRL FREED AFTER JUDGE ACKNOWLEDGES NO REASON FOR IMPRISONMENT

KFAR SABA -- An 18 year-old Jewish girl was freed by an Israeli judge who acknowledged that there was no reason for her imprisonment. "I have decided to acquit the defendant from the offenses she is charged with because of reasonable doubt," Kfar Saba Magistrate Nava... Read More

ISRAELI POLICE ADMIT NO REASON FOR JEWISH ROUNDUP

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police have acknowledged that they grabbed demonstrators off the streets of Jerusalem for no reason. Police told a Jerusalem court judge that many of the 22 protesters, most of them minors, were arrested in a March 16 protest without cause. The judge then... Read More

JEWISH GIRL IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AFTER RABBINICAL COURT ORDERS IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JERUSALEM -- In what was deemed an unprecedented move, an 18 year-old Jewish girl was sent to a rabbinical court in an attempt to convince her to cooperate with the secular Israeli judiciary in a criminal case. Tzvia Sariel was taken to a hearing before a... Read More

ISRAEL'S JUDICIARY DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR JUDGE

Jerusalem -- Israel's judiciary system has disassociated itself from the conduct of a Kfar Saba magistrate who sent an 18 year-old Jewish girl to prison for a fourth month despite the recantation of the prosecution's chief witnesses. The Justice Ministry said it was not responsible for... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE SENDS JEWISH TEENAGER FOR FOURTH MONTH TO JAIL WITHOUT FORMAL CHARGES

Kfar Saba -- An Israeli judge, who refused to issue her ruling publicly, sent a Jewish protester for a fourth month to jail, without formal charges. Judge Nava Bechor sent Tzvia Sariel, 18, back to jail after a hearing in which two key witnesses testified that... Read More

ISRAELI PRISON DENIES RIGHTS TO JEWISH TEENAGER

KFAR SABA -- Israeli prison authorities twice denied requests by a Jewish teenager, held for three months without trial, to attend the funerals of both her grandparents. "They wouldn't allow her out for the funeral," Ruth Sariel, Tzvia Sariel's mother, said. "They behaved as if she... Read More

COURT ORDERS STATE PROSECUTOR TO DISCLOSE DECISIONS ON FEEEDOM OF SPEECH AND INFORMATION CASES

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has instructed the state prosecutor's office to disclose decisions on issuing indictments in cases of freedom of speech and freedom of information in the trial of a Jewish critic of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in August 2005. ... Read More

ISRAELI ARMY PREVENTS AMBULANCE FROM TREATING JEWISH YOUTHS

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli army has prevented Jewish youths from receiving civilian medical treatment after they were injured by Arabs in a rock-throwing melee. Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service confirmed that a senior Israel Defense Army officer ordered three injured Jewish youths to be transferred... Read More

PROSECUTOR OFFERS RELEASE IF JEWISH TEENAGER CONFESSES

JERUSALEM -- Israeli state prosecutors have offered to release a Jewish teenager who has spent close to three months in jail without trial if she confesses to all the charges against her. "If she admits all the facts, then we'll release her," Ruth Sariel, the mother... Read More

ISRAELI STATE PROSECUTION CONTINUES TO DEMAND SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR EXPULSION PROTESTERS

JERUSALEM -- The government continues to demand special treatment for protesters against the expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in August 2005. More than two years after the unilateral withdrawal, the state prosecution said those who fought the expulsion could... Read More

ISRAEL COURT SENTENCES ANTI-DISENGAGEMENT PROTESTERS TO STIFF PENALTIES

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli judge has sentenced two Jewish activists to years in prison for a road-blocking protest against the Disengagement in August 2005. More than two years later, Tel Aviv District Court Judge George Kara sentenced Mordechai and Eltizur Harel Levenstein to 40 months... Read More

ISRAELI COURT RELEASES YOUNG JEWISH GIRL AND ADMITS KNOWING IDENTITY

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has released one of the seven young Jewish girls who refused to identify herself and who was held for close to one month despite the fact that her identity was known to the authorities from the outset. "They knew who... Read More

ISRAEL'S STATE PROSECUTION LEAVES TEENAGERS IN PRISON

JERUSALEM -- The state prosecution has said it will not advocate the release of seven teenage girls who have been imprisoned for more than two weeks for refusing to identify themselves. "It's impossible to release them if they don't identify themselves," Deputy State Prosecutor for Special... Read More

PROSECUTORS ORDER HARSH PENALTIES FOR ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS

JERUSALEM -- The state prosecution has directed police, prosecutors and judges to use the same draconian guidelines for prosecuting Jews arrested in anti-government protests that were used to arrest more than 8,000 Jews prior to the government's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in August 2005. ... Read More

NEWS ROUNDUP 2007

On Oct. 16, the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court released several teenager girls, 12 to 14 year-olds, into their parents custody. The girls were arrested at the Shvut Ami outpost in the West Bank after they refused police orders to leave. They were taken to the Neve Tirza womens' prison... Read More

ISRAELI POLICEMAN SENTENCED FOR BRUTAL ASSAULT OF JEWISH TEENAGER

TEL AVIV -- An Israeli court sentenced two police officers convicted of assaulting a Jewish teenager to community service in one of the few cases in which authorities agreed to prosecute police officers for brutality against anti-withdrawal protesters. "Violence in any situation is an evil sickness... Read More

ISRAELI POLICE ADMIT ILLEGAL CONFISCATION OF EVIDENCE

KFAR SABA [Israel] -- Israeli police admitted that officers confiscated film footage of what 46 Jewish teenage demonstrators deemed police brutality during the mass arrest in a new outpost in the West Bank. "We only confiscated one [film] cartridge from a person who was not a... Read More

ISRAELI COURT DISMISSES APPEAL AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has dismissed the appeal against the acquittal of a border policemen charged with brutally assaulting an anti-government demonstrator in the West Bank Jewish community of Amona in February 2005. A three-judge panel at the Jerusalem District Court advised the prosecution in... Read More

ISRAELI COURT SPARES PRISON FROM JEWISH YOUNGSTER CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER

BEERSHEBA -- An Israeli court, dismissing prosecution evidence of attempted murder, spared a prison sentence from a Jewish youngster who participated in an Arab-Jewish rock throwing melee in the Gaza Strip in 2005. Shimshon Cytryn, 20, who the prosecution charged with attempted murder which carries... Read More

ISRAELI POLICE LEAD DEMOLITION EFFORT OF JEWISH PROPERTY IN W. BANK

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police have been designated the lead agency in a government program to demolish Jewish homes and outposts in the West Bank. Police commanders have been leading forces comprised of soldiers and police officers in demolishing unauthorized Jewish homes in the West Bank.. The... Read More

ISRAELI COURT ORDERS POLICE TO PAY DAMAGES TO JEWISH DEMONSTRATORS

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has awarded $7,500 in damages to three Jewish teenagers who were assaulted by policemen during an anti-Disengagement demonstration. Jerusalem Magistrates Judge Shimon Feinberg ordered two border policemen, Aatad Shnan and Tzion Muallem, to pay $7,500 [30,000 shekels] in damages to three... Read More

ISRAELI COURT CITES SELECTIVE PROSECUTION IN SEDITION ACQUITTAL

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court, citing selective prosecution, has acquitted three Jewish activists of sedition and incitement against the government. Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Rachel Shalev-Gertal acquitted the three defendants -- Shai Malka, Ariel Vangrover and Adiel Sharabi -- of sedition and incitement in connection with... Read More

DEFENSE CHARGES GOV'T CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT PROTESTS

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli opposition group has charged that the government seeks to prevent peaceful protests against plans to withdraw from the West Bank. An attorney for a Jewish anti-government activist said the Israel Security Agency, responsible for domestic intelligence, has been targeting right-wing protesters in... Read More

ISRAELI ARMY REFUSES DISENGAGEMENT PROTESTERS

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military, in violation of its own policy, has refused to recruit youngsters who protested the expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in 2005. Israeli teenagers who sought to block the military expulsion of the Jews said... Read More

ISRAELI PROSECUTION ACCUSED OF POLITICAL BIAS

BEERSHEBA, Israel -- An Israel defense attorney has accused the state of political bias in the prosecution of a Jewish teenager convicted of assaulting a Palestinian stone-thrower. Defense attorney Yarom HaLevi said the prosecution discriminated against Shimshon Cytryn when it indicted him on charges of attempted... Read More

ISRAELI JUDGE DISMISSES EXPULSION LAW AS OUTDATED

KFAR SABA, Israel -- In what could set a precedent, an Israeli judge has invalidated a 2005 law that facilitated the expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Judge David Gadol of the Kfar Saba Juvenile Court said there was no... Read More

ISRAELI POLICE IGNORE ARAB DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH VINEYARD

ISRAELI POLICE IGNORE ARAB DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH VINEYARD JERUSALEM -- Israeli police and the army refused to intervene as a group of more than 100 Arabs and left-wing Israelis and foreign supporters uprooted and destroyed a Jewish vineyard west of Ramallah in the West Bank. On Aug.... Read More

ISRAELI COURT OVERTURNS ACQUITTAL OF GOVT. CRITIC

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court has overturned a lower court's decision to acquit a Jewish dissident on charges of insulting a government official who played a major role in the expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in 2005. On July... Read More

JEWISH DISSIDENT AGAIN ESCAPES PRISON SENTENCE

JERUSALEM -- For the second time in as many months, a Jewish dissident who refused to cooperate with the Israeli justice system has escaped a prison sentence. Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Alexander Ron sentenced Miriam Adler to community service and pay damages to officers who claimed... Read More

COURT REJECTS SELF-DEFENSE APPEAL BY JEWISH GUARDS

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court, acknowledging flaws in the police investigation, has rejected the appeal by two Jewish security guards convicted of firing toward Arab attackers in the West Bank. The Jerusalem District Court asserted that police failed to conduct ballistic tests and a suspect lineup... Read More

POLICE PROBE INTO JEWISH GUARDS FLAWED

JERUSALEM -- Israeli authorities have acknowledged significant flaws in a police investigation that led to the conviction of two Jewish security guards charged with firing toward Arab attackers in the West Bank. An Israeli state prosecutor has admitted mistakes in the police investigation that led to... Read More

ISRAEL REFUSES TO EVICT ARAB SQUATTERS FROM JEWISH HOME

JERUSALEM -- Israeli authorities, ignoring a court decision, have refused to evict Arab squatters from a Jewish-owned property in the nation's capital. The police have refused to implement a court order to evict an Arab clan who had been living in a Jewish-owned home for more... Read More

ISRAELI COURT CLEARS POLICEMAN OF BRUTALITY

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court, accepting evidence after the conclusion of a trial, has acquitted a border policeman of assaulting a reserve army colonel during an anti-government protest in the West Bank. Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Haim Li-Ran acquitted border policeman Eyal Fero of aggravated assault... Read More

POLICE INSTRUCTED TO USE FORCE IN HOUSE DEMOLITIONS

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police underwent special training for an assault on thousands of protesters during the demolition of nine homes in a Jewish community in the West Bank in 2006. A senior Israeli police officer testified that 1,300 troops were told to club, trample... Read More

ISRAEL PREPARES FOR MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TRIALS

JERUSALEM [IsraelJustice.com] -- Israel has prepared for the trials of nearly 150 people, most of them minors, charged with resisting the military expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in 2005. The government has prepared virtually identical indictments for the 146... Read More

ISRAELI FACES 20 YEARS FOR THROWING OBJECT IN MELEE

BEERSHEBA -- A Jewish settler faces 20 years in prison for hurling an object that missed a Palestinian teenager during a rock-throwing melee in the Gaza Strip in 2005. Shimshon Cytryn, who lives in the Jewish community of Nahliel in the West Bank, was convicted of... Read More