1.
I want to start by correcting an error. The truth is that you don't even know about this error. In fact, there's no way you would know: it's not something that was written here in the column, but something that wasn't written in it.
A sentence that was deleted from the final version of the column that was published here two weeks ago - and it shouldn't have been deleted. And since then my conscience won't let me. So here, I will try to correct this sin now, which is between a man and his keyboard.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Two weeks ago, I wrote here about the judicial system's abuse of Eli Feldstein and the reservist from the Military Intelligence Service, and I began with a call for prayer: "Eliezer Ben Bina. This is the full name of Eli Feldstein, the prime minister's spokesman, who has been detained for about three weeks by the Shin Bet and needs prayers. In fact, he needs a miracle. Unfortunately, I cannot publish the name of the detained opponent, but please pray for him as well.
""Perhaps the most appropriate part of the prayer is 'Our brothers, the entire House of Israel, who are in trouble and captivity.' And no, I am not comparing those detained in the affair to those kidnapped in the tunnels in Gaza, and I am not comparing their interrogators to the kidnappers. But yes, in the face of such mighty dark forces, we need the mercy of heaven. Much mercy from heaven.".
In the original version of the text, the following line appeared here: "And this section can also be addressed in the Eighteenth Prayer with the words 'And all guilt will be instantly destroyed.'".
But just before the newspaper went to print, I deleted it. I was afraid it might sound too harsh. It's important for me to emphasize: In my opinion, there are no words that are too harsh in relation to the criminality and injustice and trampling of human rights by the justice system in this story from the very first moment. And when I say from the very first moment, I mean the very first moment - the violent arrest carried out by special forces who came with weapons drawn to Feldstein's and the other's house, as if they were a ticking bomb.
A few days later, they also did the same in the scandalous arrest of the commander of the Israeli Prison Service, Lieutenant Colonel Avishai Mualem, the man whose grave sin was carrying out the instructions of the political echelon. And so it was with the arrest of the Commissioner of the Prison Service, Lieutenant Colonel Kobi Yaakovi. In the latter case, it almost ended in a police shooting, because his security guards thought it was an attempt by criminal elements to harm him (they were right: these were elements who behaved like in the underworld and were indeed trying to harm the Commissioner of the Prison Service. Only in this case they are called "the gatekeepers").
And yet I was afraid that this quote, from the greeting "And to the informants," might be perceived by some readers as a provocation. And the truth is, I'm not scared of that either. A columnist is allowed to provoke provocations from time to time. But that column had one goal: to create identification, caring, in the face of the injustices of the legal system, and as many prayers as possible for Feldstein and the opposition.
2.
So I deleted the paragraph about the conviction - and I regretted it. At first a little, but then, as the detention got longer - that is, it got longer - I regretted it more and more. Last week, after the judge in the district court ordered the two to be released to house arrest, and the prosecution decided to appeal, and Supreme Court Justice Alex Stein extended the detention for another five days simply because he needed time to read the material - I was already filled with deep regret for my self-censorship. I almost started to tune in to it with "Father forgive us for we have sinned.".
And here, the honorable, cruel Judge Stein finally finishes reading the material, and publishes his decision: He sends Feldstein under house arrest and leaves his opponent, the reservist, in prison, using some legal jargon according to which he actually poses a danger because he knows additional things, by virtue of his position, so who can guarantee us - or as the judge puts it, "who will get their hands on us" - that he will not leak them in time of war and harm the security of the state?
Yes, that was the argument. Don't think it sounds strange to you because you don't understand law. It sounds strange to you because you are moral people.
Judge Stein is actually claiming that after everything the defendant has gone through - the violent arrest, the blindfolding, the isolation, the hours-long interrogations, the mental abuse, the many days in prison - and after everything his family has gone through, he will continue to leak information to the political echelon, while sitting under house arrest with strict restrictions.
So what do we do? Oh, it's simple. Leave him in prison. Until when? Please forgive me. Maybe until peace comes and nation will not lift a sword against nation. Then, only then, will the danger from him completely pass away.
It is amazing how the Supreme Court, which for years has fought for the human rights of the lowest of the low, the terrorists, so cruelly tramples on the human rights of a respected opponent in the IDF. Actually, it is not that amazing. The sages have already taught us that anyone who shows mercy to terrorists will eventually become cruel to opponents.
3.
A few hours after the ruling, I met Avital, the distraught wife of the defendant. She said that not a single lawyer the family spoke to thought that her husband would not be released after 45 days in detention. I heard a horror story from her, exactly like that, about a violent and boundless elite that put in a dungeon and interrogated for hours, day and night, a normative citizen, with no criminal record, of course, who had done over 220 days of reserve duty since October 7 - just to get revenge on him and to scare others in his situation, so that they wouldn't think of criticizing the system.
After all, we have already agreed that this serious affair should not be called the "document leak" affair, but the "document concealment" affair. A document that has implications for the lives of kidnapped people and perhaps even fighters does not reach the political level. We are continuing the same failure of the October Sabbath. And now the security establishment and the legal system are sending a message to the next counterattack at 8200: If you are exposed to information about another threat of infiltration into settlements and kidnappings, God forbid, and your commanders do nothing about it, do not go ahead with it. You will get in trouble with the system. With all the systems.
We'll arrest you, throw you in jail, and when you appeal the decision, the judge will say he needs a few more days to go over the material and come up with the nonsense that will keep you in jail because "whoever comes near us will get stuck.".
But this elite, I told Avital the heroine, will not last much longer. It will fall, God willing, soon. More and more people are realizing how corrupt and vindictive and picky it is, and how it uses legal arguments in the interests of political gain. And the terrible story of your husband, who tried - in good faith and out of concern for the fate of the kidnapped - to do good, will hasten this process, God willing.
Yes, your arrested husband, whose name no one even knows, that unknown soldier, "in black nights of despair" as written in the underground anthem, has an important role in history. To that extent. After all, it's not just the story of this document. It's a story about the opening fire orders that became distorted, about the Gaza perimeter that was eroding, about the demolition of terrorist homes that the High Court of Justice did not permit, about targeted counterintelligence and the "neighbor procedure" that were repeatedly restricted. About everything.
Also about the fact that a prime minister has to come three times a week for six hours to discuss captions for pictures on the Walla website years ago, while Israel is destroying the Syrian army in our most complex campaign ever.
Your husband, I told her, has an important part in this amendment. And one more recommendation, a legal-spiritual tip: that your lawyers immediately seek to reveal his identity. Why? Because it will add prayers and rights to him. He will have a name and a face. And that will certainly inspire people to pray.
Until the moment the issue was closed, the name of the opponent was not permitted to be published, but I would like to allow publication of the passage in the prayer that in my opinion is most appropriate to address the affair: "And all conviction will now perish.".
Actually, it suddenly sounds too moderate to me. Too Ashkenazi. That's exactly what the Eastern Testimony has in its text. Say with me, from the bottom of your heart: "And the kingdoms of wickedness will soon be uprooted and broken and destroyed and subdued quickly in our days!". Amen.
4.
And one more side note: Everyone knows that Eli Feldstein comes from the Haredi world, grew up in a well-known family, studied at a reputable yeshiva, enlisted in the army and unfortunately took off his kippa. It's no secret. You can see it in his picture. The Prime Minister mentioned it too.
It is interesting to compare the IDF's attitude towards a dedicated officer who contributed to the country for years and then sinned (according to the army), compared to the attitude of the Haredi world, at least in this case, towards someone who studied in a yeshiva for years and sinned. And by the way, this cruel attitude towards dedicated and normative soldiers and officers, even outstanding ones, who are not part of the elite and who (according to the army) made a mistake once, just once, or even did not align with the system - is literally the army's policy.
Here are a few names, just from memory: Brigadier General Chico Tamir, Brigadier General Mordechai Kahane, Colonel Dvir Hever, Colonel Nochi Mendel, Colonel Hezi Nechama. Each one and his story, of course, I'm not comparing, but what they all have in common: zero compassion from the system for those who dedicated their best years to it. Zero possibility of correction. Throw him to the dog.
On the other hand, this week it was reported that Rabbi Mordechai Rabinowitz, head of the small Yeshiva "Or Yisrael" where Feldstein studied at the time, delivered a letter to him in prison through MK Eliyahu Baruchi of the Torah Banner, who was visiting him. He wrote to him on the yeshiva's stationery:
""To my dear God, peace and all the best, Sella. I think about you a lot and try to be a burden bearer with you, especially in prayer, which is the only way to gain. But please remember, remember, there is someone who is with you, and he is the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, 'With him I am in trouble.' And this is at all times and in every moment.
""It is told of a man who was in the ghetto and barely had a shirt to cover his body, and once in a time of difficulty he said: 'You can take everything from me, but the Holy One, blessed be He, you can never take from me, for He is always with me'... I would like to add a few things that the moralists wrote, and it will be a comfort to you: The work that is incumbent on a person is to engage in effort and yet to know that effort has no power to help, because without the will of God, he will achieve nothing...
""Therefore, one must be at rest and in peace and trust in Hashem, the Blessed One, that He will do good, and know and believe that from the Lord a man's steps are prepared, everything is determined by heaven for every moment, in what place he will be and at what time and with what people he will be together, and how long he will stay there. Remember! There is no one else besides Him. The seal and wishes you success soon, your love. M. Rabinowitz.".
How much encouragement, how much love, for a former student (from more than 15 years ago!), who did not sin once, but left the path. Every Jewish mother should know that she entrusted the fate of her sons to the heads of the yeshiva who are worthy of it.
