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15 Adar 5759 - March 3, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Protests Against the Severe Sentence for Setting Fire to a Missionary Apartment

by Betzalel Kahn

The judicial system in Israel continues to harass and persecute Torah observant Jews. Last week, the Justice of Jerusalem's Regional Court sentenced one of those charged with setting fire to a missionary apartment in Meah Shearim to eight months in prison and an additional four months suspended sentence. In addition, the High Court categorically rejected the appeal of another suspect in the case. Both maintain their innocence.

The harassment and persecution of the innocent chareidim, who are being held in prison until the end of the proceedings against them, have exacerbated the already stormy reactions with the judicial system. The system creates new laws regarding alleged chareidi "criminals," while others, accused of serious crimes -- including murder -- are detained under house arrest.

For the past three months, three chareidim charged with setting fire to a Meah Shearim apartment occupied by missionaries have been languishing in prison. Even though it is clear that the three were in the area only out of curiosity and had no part in the arson, the prosecution demanded their imprisonment until sentencing. The entire case rests on the testimony of one of those arrested. This testimony, which the witness himself later retracted, was extracted from him by force and coercion.

The indictment against the "accused," Yehoshua Weiss, charges him with "conspiracy to commit crime, unruly behavior, arson and the malicious causing of damage." The State prosecution, whose senior members continue to abuse the chareidim as they have done for many years, demanded the imposition of a maximal sentence. This is despite the explicit, adamant requests of the Degel HaTorah representatives, Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz and Rabbi Moshe Gafni that the Prosecutor General not imprison the accused until the end of the legal proceedings, but treat him like he does other suspects.

The Justice of the Regional Court did not comply with the prosecution's demand to impose maximal punishment on Weiss, and was, to a certain degree, impressed by the claims of his attorney. As a result, she sentenced Weiss to eight months in prison. Justice Hecht wrote that she decided not to issue a maximal sentence partly due to the relatively small role he played in the incident, and also due to his claim in court that he was only present at the scene of the crime, and had no connection to the described deeds.

One of the suspects under arrest, Aharon Kornblit, a father of six, will remain in jail until the end of the proceedings, despite the extreme hardship that this causes his broken- hearted family.

The prosecution has no proof against Kornblit, except for Weiss' testimony, extracted by the police under extreme physical pressure. Weiss later withdrew his "confession," and throughout the trial he has claimed that the testimony had been extracted from him by force.

On the basis of these facts, Aharon Kornblit appealed to the regional court, asking it to reconsider its decision. The court rejected his appeal, and Kornblit appealed against this decision in the High Court. Justice Dorner rejected his appeal.

Throughout the deliberations, the prosecution claimed that the testimony which incriminated Kornblit, and which was later retracted by the witness, does not mitigate the evidence the police have against him. The Justice of the High Court rejected the appeal and determined that retraction of the testimony does not overshadow the proof which led to the decision to arrest Kornblit and hold him until the end of the proceedings.

Both these legal decisions underscore the judicial system's continuous harassment of chareidim. These decisions drew a series of reactions, the first of which was a prayer rally in the Botei Ungarin quarter of Meah Shearim. The rally opened with the recitation of Tehillim and the delivery of divrei his'orerus by HaRav Moshe Sternbuch and the admor of Toldos Aharon. Afterward, hundreds of Jerusalem's most venerable residents bound chains around their hands, and marched to the United Nations building, demanding that the UN intervene in the affair, which constitutes a serious breach of human rights.

Chareidi public figures said that the judicial system's continued harassment of the chareidi public by means of decisions which negate Knesset legislation, intervention in the Knesset's work, and the meting of heavy sentences on chareidim accused of various crimes in which they played no part, attest more than a thousand witnesses to the personal outlooks of the judges. This shameful harassment of the chareidi community must be halted immediately, they said.


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