It appears: in the activities of the Shas public relations bureau, alongside the activities of religious-national rabbis, including Rabbi Chaim Druckman, yeshiva student Eliyahu Cohen, who was sentenced yesterday to 20 days in Prison 4, will be released home for Passover.
However, at this time, the boy's father and his lawyers have not yet received an update on his release.
According to businessmen and rabbis involved in the case, an agreement has been reached with the army. According to the agreement, in order to maintain order during the Passover holiday and to avoid causing a rift between the IDF and the Haredi public, a request submitted by the young man's lawyers for a sweetening of the sentence was approved, and the yeshiva student will be released before the holiday.
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The young man, a student at the 'Orhot David' yeshivot, a resident of Ashdod, was arrested on Monday night by civilian police officers during a routine check and handed over to the military police. He was sentenced, as mentioned, to 20 days and has already begun serving his sentence in Prison 4.
The Committee to Save the Torah World says: "The government officials are pressured by the fact that the Land of Israel is about to burn in the coming days with violent demonstrations, and they claim that during the evening they will release the Torah world prisoner from his prison as part of what is called 'sweetening the sentence', and hold a retrial after Passover.".
""Maybe so and maybe not. The activists are constantly in contact with the family and with military officials to assist as much as possible.".
""As of this moment, one thing is clear: the prisoner is still in prison, which is why the demonstrations continue as usual all over the country, in Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh, until the moment when the prisoner is found on the other side of the wall of Prison 4.".
Hours before the release was reported, we conducted an interview with his father.
Hello to Rabbi Yoram Cohen. In the last few hours, it has become clear that your son will be doing the Seder, most likely in prison. Did you give him the order to sign up and enlist so that he can go home for the holiday?
No. He will not enlist under any circumstances, he is a yeshiva student.
Are you adamant about this?
Yes, of course.
When did you find out he was arrested?
I learned from one of the children. He was stopped at a routine checkpoint at the entrance to Elad.
Was he driving the car?
No, he sat in the back.
And what happened?
Apparently they saw a guy wearing a kippah, and after asking for an ID, the military police were called in. From that point on, we began to make inquiries and learned that he was in the KOM.
Is Prison 4 a 'transit prison'?
He will be in prison for 20 days, including Passover.
Were you able to talk to him on the phone?
Yes. Today they allowed me to call him, and we encouraged him.
How can you encourage a yeshiva student in such a foreign and alienating environment? What do you tell him?
He simply doesn't understand what crime he committed. He didn't believe we would reach a situation where they would go to prison for studying Torah.
Do you know why he didn't show up?
His friends who showed up were recruited by force, he was afraid of this and chose not to show up.
Do you receive encouragement from your family, from the public?
Just people, not relatives to be honest, are calling and encouraging, it's exciting.
So you're trying to cheer up, is he broken?
He's in shock, he didn't expect it to come. Military police came to our house several times.
What about Passover? Matzah, strict food?
I have no idea. Today we received permission to put tefillin in him.
Is there a lawyer working on this matter?
The lawyer sent a letter to the prison commander with a request to mitigate the sentence, perhaps for release for Passover.
What to expect after 20 days?
He is afraid that he will be forcibly recruited.
Does he want to continue the meeting?
Of course. He is interested and wants to continue studying Torah.
There is no signature, etc., but is this a guy who is diligent in his Talmud studies?
He studies his Talmud, even at night. He is very serious about his studies.
