Hitting the police: Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Shmuel Herbst rejected at noon (Friday) the police's request to place two young men under house arrest for 7 days, to ban them from Jerusalem and to impose a monetary deposit on them for posting posters against the Pope. The young men were detained for questioning after posting posters in the Shmuel Hanevi neighborhood in Jerusalem against the Pope's visit to the Holy Land. In the posters, the activists called on the Pope not to visit the country and to "return the stolen temple vessels." The two were arrested by police officers at the Lev HaBira police station.
In his decision, the judge ruled that the young men were caught putting up a notice expressing protest against the Pope's expected visit to Israel. The ad reads: "The accursed Christianity, complicit in the murder of millions of Jews in strange deaths, led by the Church, and its leaders, they dream of eliminating the Jewish state, unclean Pope, get out of our Holy Land, return the stolen temple vessels, loyal to the Jewish state.".
The police claimed that this was incitement to racism, but the judge accepted the arguments of the two's lawyer on behalf of the Hanano Association, Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, and ruled: "Theological debates and inter-religious disputes have always existed, and these debates do not constitute a danger to public peace.".
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The judge further stated: "The only sentence that can be interpreted in a way that has even the faintest hint of incitement to racism is the sentence: 'They are Christians dreaming of eliminating the Jewish state.' This sentence can be understood, albeit distantly and faintly, as meaning that due to Christianity's intentions, action must be taken against it accordingly.".
At the same time, the judge was quick to emphasize: "This is a very weak suspicion, not related to racism and does not meet the restrictions imposed by the law as arising from a fundamental principle in a democratic and legal regime. The individual is permitted to perform any action that is not defined as a prohibited action, while the state is not permitted to perform any action except those permitted by law.".
The judge added later in the decision that the suspicion against the young men was a very weak suspicion, and arose from only one sentence in the ad. Under these circumstances, the judge rejected the request for house arrest, expulsion, and imposition of a financial deposit, and even ruled that the young men had the right to demonstrate against the Pope: "The requested protest must be allowed.".
The judge ruled that the young people would be able to hold the protest according to the law, about 150 meters from the Pope, but would not approach the Pope beyond this distance.
Attorney Ben Gvir says that this is an important and principled decision: "I hope that the police will realize that it is the right of young people to hold a protest against the Pope, and there is no room for silence.".
Meanwhile, the police are on high alert ahead of the Pope's arrival next week. Some 10,000 police officers have been assigned to secure the operation.
The security establishment is concerned about protest activities by right-wing activists during the visit. Major General Nitzan Alon, commander of IDF forces in the Judea and Samaria region, has for the first time issued administrative orders against right-wing activists who oppose Christian prayer at places holy to the Jewish people.
Yesterday, a demonstration was held in front of David's Tomb on Mount Zion against the Pope's visit and against rumors about the government's intention to allocate part of the tomb complex for Christian worship.
