The head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, Rabbi Yossi Elitzur, filed a lawsuit against the head of the Jewish department at the Shin Bet, the Shin Bet, and the Israel Police through Honenu for 30,000 shekels - after a recording was released in which the head of the Jewish department was heard pressuring the commander of the Shin Bet's Jewish unit in the police to arrest him and even enter his home, without a court order, even though he had not committed any offense.
The lawsuit comes after the publication of recordings of A., the head of the Jewish department at the organization "Kan News", which was recorded in one of his conversations with the commander of the Jewish Police Division, Deputy Chief Avishai Moalem, in which he pressured him to arrest Rabbi Elitzur, even though Moalem clarified that according to legal advice, Elitzur had not committed any offense.
Attorney Yado describes how Rabbi Elitzur was summoned to the Ariel police station on the pretext of clarifying a police matter - where Shin Bet agents entered the interrogation room and began threatening him to cease his activities against Arabs: "On March 18, 2024, the plaintiff arrived at the Ariel police station, where fingerprints, a DNA sample, and a photo were taken from the plaintiff for the 'police album.' At the same time, the plaintiff was questioned on charges regarding a series of events to which he had no connection, when no evidence was presented to him linking him to any prohibited act.
""At the end of the interrogation, the prosecutor asked to leave, but then three Shin Bet agents who were waiting in the hallway entered the interrogation room, one of them masked. The masked man, who served as a kind of security guard, blocked the exit door and did not allow the prosecutor to leave the room.
""The Shin Bet man known as Ural approached the prosecutor with a threat, and when the prosecutor demanded to leave or speak to a lawyer, he did not respond. Ural approached with threatening statements, saying, 'We usually do not intervene in educational institutions, but if this continues, then we will do it,' and said, 'You don't want them to seize the yeshiva again.' The prosecutor, for his part, did not respond, but only later told Ural that he was a forceful and violent person and it was a shame that he behaved this way.".
Attorney Yado emphasizes in the lawsuit that the conduct of the Shin Bet personnel stemmed directly from the commanding spirit of A., the head of the department: "This is a series of events that lasted about a month, during which the Shin Bet, either directly or through the police, exerted illegal and incessant pressure on the plaintiff, in order for him to waive his right to refuse a Shin Bet meeting.".
""When the plaintiff did not surrender, he was brought to the station on a false summons for a futile interrogation, during which he was humiliated when he was photographed and required to provide DNA samples and fingerprints, and at the end he was forced by bullying to remain in a room with three Shin Bet officers, and to hear threats about his freedom and the closure of the meeting he was leading.
""It has now also been proven that the conduct is not at the grassroots level, but is directed by A., who is pressing from above to take action against the plaintiff despite the police opinion that the plaintiff did not commit an offense, an opinion that eliminates any legal basis for taking steps against the plaintiff.".
Adv. Yado: "The conversations that were revealed are extremely serious, and their seriousness must be called out with all force. Even after the conversations were revealed and the veil lifted from all this evil, we know one thing: the people of Israel are alive, and the people of eternity are not afraid of a long journey, and this is our consolation then and today, and 'the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.'".
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