The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court convicted Rabbi Yosef Elitzur of two offenses of incitement to violence for two articles he wrote and published on the "Jewish Voice" website, in which he expressed support, praise, and sympathy for the activities and criminality of "Price Tag.".
The Technion calls on you to join: a subsistence scholarship and full funding with personal support Enter: Registration for daycare for the 2012 school year is moving onlineAccording to the indictment, during the relevant period, the defendant served as a rabbi and senior teacher at the 'Oud Yosef Chai' yeshiva in Yitzhar, as well as a teacher of youth in the Samaria Regional Council. The defendant also had a regular opinion column on the 'Jewish Voice' website, where he periodically published various opinion pieces he had written.
In two of these articles, published during May 2013, Elitzur incited violent acts against Arabs wherever they may be.
The two articles, which were published during a period when violent events against Arabs occurred in Judea and Samaria in the context of the murder of Eviatar Borovsky, received many responses from readers of the 'Jewish Voice' website, a significant number of which were supportive and sympathetic. All of the described content published by the defendant on the 'Jewish Voice' website remained published on the website from the time the indictment was filed.
The defendant had the ability to remove the said content from the website at any time, but chose not to do so, even after being questioned with a warning on suspicion that this content allegedly violated criminal law.
The court rejected the defendant's claim of selective enforcement that discriminates between Jews and Arabs, and between Jews on the right side of the political map and Jews on the left side of the map, and stated: "... Under these circumstances, I find no substance in the defense's claims that defendants were not prosecuted for publishing articles on a website or newspaper, and the opinion suggests that, all the more so - where defendants without status in their community, who write a single post on Facebook, are convicted, immunity should not be granted to those with status, who formulate their words well, consider them, and publish them on a public and institutional website, from prosecution. It seems that selective enforcement will be to the extent that only those citizens without status and recognition, those "keyboard heroes," are prosecuted, without also prosecuting the influential, well-known, educated, and status-minded.".
The court further stated: "...examining the content of the articles - each one separately, and more importantly reading them together, alongside additional writings by the defendant, the expert's opinion and the additional evidence, led me to the conclusion that the defendant did indeed publish the articles in question, because they contain praise for violence, and their publication has a real possibility that they will lead to an act of violence. I was also convinced that the publications were made against the backdrop of a sensitive public atmosphere, in which the spirits of the settlers were stirred following the murder of a neighbor.".
The case was handled by Attorney Roy Rice of the Central District Attorney's Office (Criminal).
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