As many of you may have heard, someone dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed six people at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday. The 'man,' Yishai Schlissel, did the same thing ten years ago, and was recently released from prison for that crime. Unfortunately, this time, he managed to murder someone. 16-year old Shira Banki (pictured above) passed away today.
The letter below was written by Rabbi Ron Yitzchak Eisenman of Passaic, New Jersey, who studied with me in yeshiva 35 years ago. I think it sums up pretty well how we ought to look at and feel about this incident (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
The Short VortGood Morning!Today is Sunday the 17th of Menachem-Av 5775 and August 2, 2015In Memory of Shira Banki...
Posted by Ron Yitzchock Eisenman on Sunday, August 2, 2015
Only in Israel: 'Commitment to peace' claimed to trump taking $600,000 in bribes
Only in Israel would a disgraced former Prime Minister have the gall to call as a character witness the former Prime Minister of a foreign country to urge a reduced sentence for taking $600,000 in bribes because of his 'commitment to peace.' The disgraced former Prime Minister is Ehud K. Olmert (pictured above being greeted in jail by convicted rapist and former President Moshe Katzav). The former Prime Minister of a foreign country is Britain's Tony Blair.
Blair's letter, which highlighted Olmert's commitment to "ensuring that
Israel was protected," but noted his appreciation that "peace was an
indispensable part of such protection," was issued to the court as
Olmert's defense team attempted to roll back the scrutiny assailing
Olmert's reputation and pleaded for the former Labor leader not to serve
any jail time.
...
The Defense emphasized Olmert's personal relationship with other major
figures during his tenure, with Blair's letter suggesting that the two
leader's report going "beyond that between heads of Government", being
"based on friendship and trust with a clear understanding of the needs
and sensitivities of the other side."
A second letter was issued on Olmert's behalf by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, a man who has probably done more than any other Israeli to ensure that Iran becomes a nuclear weapons state.
Just how corrupt is Olmert? From the original link above:
[I]n March, the court assessed the new [Olmert's former secretary Shula] Zaken recordings, her journal and
much of her testimony, changing their conclusion from acquittal into
convicting Olmert after finding that the evidence proved beyond a
reasonable doubt that at least $153,950 out of the over $600,000 Olmert
was accused of using for illegal personal use was in fact used
illegally.
Damningly, the court found that a recording of Olmert
telling Zaken she could take funds from a secret safe for her illegal
use contradicted his narrative that he was unaware of any such funds
or that he thought they were being used for permitted political
purposes.
Yes, Israelis, our government is often as corrupt as we think it is.
Jewish construction worker murdered by 'Palestinian' co-worker who cut his rope
It took two weeks, but police now suspect that Jewish construction worker Netanel Arami HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) was murdered when a 'Palestinian' co-worker cut the rope from which he was suspended, sending him plunging 11 stories to his death.
This is from the original report from two weeks ago (the second link).
The few details known about the event so far, according to Walla! News,
hint that Arami's fall may not have been accidental. Armi worked at the
site along with fellow worker Liron Ovadiah in the hours before the
fall, according to the daily, and was first noticed to have been missing
after he did not show up for a planned ride home. One worker returned
to the construction site to search for him and found him laying dead on
the ground.
Both Arami and Ovadiah were to close the vent caps of the security
rooms spread along the length of the building, which is being built on
Shraga Naftali Street. Due to the complexity in assembling the
building's scaffolding, contractors have asked the workers to put up the
structure using abseiling, or a form of rappelling along the outside of
the building.
For several hours they worked on the site, and were due to end at
5:00 pm. At that time, Arami - hanging from cables on the 11th floor via
a harness - asked his employees to prepare for the end of the day and
pack up.
After the fall, and after he was was found lifeless on the ground,
Arami's colleagues called an ambulance, but the Portable Intensive Care
Unit at the scene pronounced him dead shortly thereafter.
The police now know a lot more. This is from the first link.
Police investigators think an Arab co-worker at the site cut the rope
that Arami was connected to as he rapelled down the side of the
building.
Arami, 27, owned a small rapelling business which he had been running for several years.
MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud), who visited the grieving Arami family
shortly after Netanel's death, was convinced from the outset that he was
murdered. “For five hours, Netanel lay crushed on the ground,”
wrote. His mother learned of the accident from news site Ynet,” he
wrote on Facebook. Netanel's co-worker “arrived there with the police.
They went up to the roof and found the slashed rope, heard the Arabs
laughing. A rapelling rope that has been cut looks completely different
from one that was worn out. And there are two of them – one main rope
and one for security.”
Feiglin hinted broadly that the gag order placed on details of
the investigation was unjustified. “What is there to hide here except
the wish to block, to cover the eyes of the public?”
There's much more: The police handling of this entire case was apparently grossly negligent. Read the whole thing.
Video: 'Palestinian' kids throw fire bombs into Jewish home
This video was shot in the 'mixed' neighborhood of Abu Tor, which is not far from Jerusalem's Old City. In it, you will see 'Palestinian' kids throwing fire bombs at the Jewish home from which the video was shot.
Now he doesn't have to find the 'real killers,' he can call it an honor killing
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
O.J. Simpson can stop looking for the 'real killers' of his wife. He's converting to Islam and that means that all his sins are forgiven (Hat Tip: Jack W).
The disgraced 67-year-old star has become interested in the religion
through his friendship with former world heavyweight boxing champion
Mike Tyson, who was imprisoned in the early 1990s and is a devout
Muslim.
Simpson has been studying the Koran but failed to successfully fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
An inside said: ”O.J. didn’t quite make it through the entire fasting process.
”He cheated during the day, and bought snacks from the prison
canteen. But he’s really serious about converting to Islam. O.J. even
made himself a prayer rug for his prison cell. He really likes the idea
that upon converting to Islam, all of his previous sins are forgiven.
O.J. has a lot to be forgiven for.”
New details released in Arab teen murder investigation
The Jerusalem District Court has cleared for publication more details of the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khadr.
IDF Radio reports Wednesday night that three of the suspects
were involved in other serious crimes before the murder; the remaining
three were less involved in burning the teen alive.
Some of the suspects have been sent for psychiatric
observation, the statement continued, adding that investigators were
also determining whether the suspects had links to terror, criminal, or
racist organizations.
The Israel Security Agency (ISA) confirmed that three suspects
have finally been allowed to meet with legal representation, although
three have still been barred from legal counsel.
I am guessing that the three suspects who have been allowed to meet with their lawyers are those who have not been involved in serious crimes in the past, and were less involved in burning Abu Khadr alive. But I have to wonder which group was sent for psychiatric observation.
Will they soon be roommates in Ramle prison? Probably not. Olmert gave up the pretension of keeping Kosher when he finished his term as Mayor of Jerusalem.
A new low: Former Prime Minister Olmert gets six years for bribery
In a country where a former President is sitting in jail for sexual assault, you might have thought we could not go much lower. Well, we just might have. As many of you probably know, former Prime Minister Ehud Korruption Olmert has been sentenced to six years in jail for accepting bribes in connection with the construction of the Holyland colossus on the southern edge of Jerusalem.
Olmert going jail barely scratches the surface of the rot and corruption among Israel's top officials. I want to show you two small points in the article linked above rather than going through the whole thing (which I am too busy to do anyway - those of us Israelis who are honest work hard for a living), in order to give you some idea why Israel's ruling classes are so corrupt.
Experts had been estimating that Olmert would likely get at least a
few years in prison, and that his being prime minister would not get him
special treatment.
Still, on a separate prior and less serious
conviction in his July 2012 Jerusalem corruption trial, Olmert received
only community service with the court noting his service to the state as
one of the reasons for leniency.
Usually, elites like Olmert get off the hook no matter what they do. It's only when the corruption hits the judges over the head that they feel they must act.
The judge added that Olmert was an extremely talented man that made a
great contribution to the state through his public service. Rozen said,
however, that his hands were tied by law to certain set punishment
guidelines without discretion.
Rozen said that Olmert was guilty
of "moral turpitude," meaning that he would not be allowed to reenter
politics for at least seven years.
Why do the judge's hands have to be tied in order for him to do the right thing?
And notice that they're already counting the years, months and days until Olmert can return to politics. For those of you who lived through the '70's in the US, can you imagine the voters ever electing Richard Nixon to another office? Spiro Agnew? In most of the western world, when you're convicted of corruption or bribery, your career in politics is over. Not in Israel. And until that changes, we Israelis will continue to be victimized by corrupt politicians like Olmert.
Children shall not be put to death over the sins of their fathers and fathers over the sins of their children?
A 45-year old mother from Beit Shemesh has been arrested in an effort to pressure her teenaged son to confess to involvement in 'price tag' attacks.
The woman's son was arrested on Friday near Elad on suspicion of
conspiracy to commit a crime, police said, after he and other youths
were found carrying nails and hammers.
Police arrested the teens, claiming possession of the building
materials constituted conspiracy to commit a "price tag" attack.
Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, rights lawyer and advocate for the rights
group Honenu, is representing both defendants. Ben-Gvir has already
appealed on the youth's behalf to the District Court, demanding that the
young man be released tomorrow if there is still no progress in the
investigation.
"The system is losing its senses," family members stated, following
the mother's arrest. "Just last week there were a number of attacks and a
Jewish teenage girl [Shelly Dadon - ed.] was murdered - and instead of
fighting the real enemy they are wasting their time on good Jews."
"It is time to differentiate between friend and enemy," they added.
Ben-Gvir also spoke about the arrest, deriding police forces for harping on petty allegations.
"The court ruled today that if there is no progress in the
investigation than the son must be released," he stated. "The police
have decided to make a drama out of the courtroom. Worst of all is the
pressure they put on the youth when he sees his mother arrested, which
encourages him to make a false confession."
In the Jewish state 66 years on, the edict that parents not be punished for their children's sins, and vice versa, is somehow forgotten....
Still waiting for the Leftist Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) to speak up about this. For God's sake, it's vandalism, not terrorism.
An American Jew who converted to Islam while living in Israel has been convicted in the United States of criminal incitement and sentenced to 2.5 years in jail for inciting violence against Jews.
Born Joseph Leonard
Cohen, Yousef al-Khattab, 45 from New Jersey, converted from Judaism to
Islam in his late 20s, when he was living in the Middle East. Upon his
return to the US in 2007, he started the Revolution Muslim website.
In a post from 2009,
Khattab posted a photo of the Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn with a
link to map, noting the main temple was always full during prayer time,
the Washington Post reported.
Khattab admitted posting articles encouraging readers to take
unspecified action against Jewish leaders and publishing names and
addresses of Jewish leaders and synagogues.
Posting a video on YouTube in 2009 of violence in the Gaza
Strip, Khattab encouraged Muslims angered by the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict to "deal with them directly at their homes."
...
Renouncing the articles
in court, he asked the judge to hold him responsible only "for what I
say, not how people understood it," the Post reported.
In an interview with NPR, Khattab admitted that his actions were "stupid" and "wrong."
"They interpreted me giving the message of Islam as being a
threat to the Jewish community, which it wasn't," Khattab told NPR, but
could not explain how providing addresses and pictures of Jewish leaders
after an anti-Semitic post could be misinterpreted.
Khattab claimed in court that he was a "clown" and "the Gilbert
Gottfried of the Muslims," saying he did not intend to incite violence,
according to the Post. He also noted he would not make the same posts
today.
On October 24, 2010, there as a demonstration of 'Palestinians,' 'internationals' and Israelis in Nebi Saleh in Samaria. One of the policemen saw Dana and someone named Yuval Oron throwing stones at the security forces. The two were arrested half an hour later for activity designed to prevent the police from fulfilling their legal duties, for participating in an illegal demonstration in a manner that disturbed the peace and instilled fear in the public.
Dana claimed that he had not thrown stones and that he was in the area due to his occupation as a 'journalist.' He claimed that he arrived fifteen minutes before he was arrested from Naalin, where he had reported on his Twitter account. Therefore, he claimed that he could not have been throwing stones half an hour before he was arrested.
Dana tried to get himself released by claiming that he was a journalist.
The judge did not accept his story and believed the police instead. The judge cited a text message from anarchist Jonathan Pollack to Dana that placed both of them in Nebi Salah when the stones were thrown. She also rejected Dana's claim that he was acting as a journalist, citing the fact that there was no article or recording of Dana engaged in journalism that day.
It's that time of year. The sound of an explosion is nearly constant for an hour or two before the kids go to school in the morning, and between when they get out in the afternoon until 11:00 or 12:00 at night. Sometimes more. Last year, the police cracked down in my neighborhood and arrested the dealers. This year, the police have been mostly invisible here. What am I talking about? Purim, of course. Purim and the firecrackers, cap guns and fireworks that go with it. They're dangerous. And they also finance the 'Palestinian' terror groups.
A 14-year-old religious boy from outside Jerusalem lost his eye while
playing with illegal explosives on Saturday night to celebrate Purim
almost three weeks early.
He and his friends were playing with a cap gun when its ammunition exploded in his face.
...
The medical staff are always anxious about such injuries before and
during Purim, as illegal caps and other explosives are widely used. It
was the second case of eye injuries to be treated at the hospital in the
last two weeks.
“Every year, close to Purim we see such cases,
and this time it lead to the complete loss of an eye. We call on parents
to prevent their children from playing with illegal explosives and thus
to avoid preventable suffering,” Cohen said.
Most Purim-related injuries are from exploding devices such as caps and firecrackers.
According
to Beterem – The National Center for Children’s Safety and Health, the
rate of injured boys is nine times higher than that of girls, and the
most common organ to be injured is the eyes.
Every package legally
sold must be marked clearly with the name and address of the
manufacturer and importer, safe usage instructions and age limitations.
It is prohibited to sell or use toy pistols that look like the real
thing. No type of explosives or powder that burns may be sold.
Beterem
urged the Economy Ministry to send large numbers of inspectors to make
surprise visits to shops and kiosks and confiscate illegal and dangerous
Purim items.
Beterem warned to never keep caps in pockets of
clothing, as they can be rubbed and explode unintentionally. It also
warned to never purchase toys from a street stand without a business
license.
Most of the explosives in my neighborhood are sold from people's homes. And many of them are thrown at other kids.
34-year old Samuel Sheinbein was killed today in Israel's Rimonim prison after he grabbed a gun and shot three prison workers, before holing himself up in a cell.
If the name Sheinbein sounds familiar, it should. Samuel Sheinbein fled to Israel in 1997 after allegedly committing a murder in the Washington DC area. While Israel's Supreme Court refused to extradite him in light of the law that was then in effect (and has since been changed), Sheinbein was put on trial for the murder here, and was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Now, he is dead.
The convict was Samuel Sheinbein, an American Jew who was charged with
killing Hispanic teenager Enrique Tello Jr. in September 1997.
The prisoner did not hold any hostages.
The Israel Prison Service said that they do not yet know how the prisoner, aged 34, got his hands on the firearm.
Sheinbein
fled to Israel following the 1997 murder and claimed that he was an
Israeli citizen because his father had lived in Israel and was an
Israeli citizen. Despite shrill protests from the US and after a
dramatic court battle, Sheinbein's strategy succeeded. Israel's Supreme
Court rejected the US extradition request in accordance with the law at
the time. It was a Pyrrhic victory for Sheinbein, however, since an
Israeli court sentenced him to 24 years for murder.
The IPS said
that the incident began Sunday while Sheinbein was being moved to a
different block by prison staff and asked to go to the bathroom. In the
bathroom he fired at the guards, wounding one seriously and two
moderately.
If I'm not mistaken, Sheinbein would have been eligible for parole in a year, although given that he tried to steal a gun the last time he was out on furlough, I doubt that parole would have been granted. I cannot help but wonder what motivated him to try this kind of stunt....
UPDATE 7:10 PM
Lots of details on the gruesome murder Sheinbein committed here.
A coalition crisis may be in the offing between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yair Lapid and Yesh Atid. The Prime Minister said on Thursday that no one is going to jail for studying in yeshiva.
“I won’t be a part of sending Jews to jail for studying Torah,” Netanyahu declared.
His statement came in response to a question from Gershon Mesika, head of the Samaria Regional Council, at a Likud party event.
The Shaked Committee, which is tasked with drafting a law on hareidi
enlistment, has seen its work delayed by debates over the question of
punishment. The Yesh Atid party strongly favors criminal sanctions.
Hareidi leaders have expressed strong opposition to criminal
sanctions for yeshiva students, and pro-enlistment leaders have warned
that strong sanctions could create a backlash that would mean fewer hareidi men in the army, not more.
That's Netanyahu's opinion, but if you don't like that, he has other opinions....
Former 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Abu Allah (Ahmad Qrei) was arrested for speeding near Maaleh Adumim on Saturday. The car in which Abu Allah was traveling (yes, of course this poor 'Palestinian' has a Mercedes driven by a chauffeur) was caught going 145 kph (90 mph) in an 80 kph (50 mph) zone.
The car's driver ignored requests by Judea and Samaria police to stop, forcing them to block the road with a police car.
After being stopped, Qureia's car was held for roughly 2 hours as
passengers refused to open the doors or windows of the car, reports Kikar Shabbat.
Eventually with the involvement of General Eitan Dangot, Coordinator
of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria, the car was allowed to
continue. Qureia, the driver and another passenger were summoned for investigation
The Judea and Samaria-based Arab Ma'an News Agency initially claimed the former prime minister was arrested "for no particular reason."
This is not Qureia's first run-in with the law on the roads.
Qurei and the driver were detained for three hours, after which police
ordered them to appear before the police traffic division.
Initially
Qurei refused police requests to open his car window as he sat inside
the vehicle. It was only after the intervention of government
coordinator for activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot,
that Qurei was allowed to continue onward.
Palestinian sources
told the Ma'an news agency that Qurei refused to give police his or his
driver's identification papers. The incident will be among the topics
discussed during Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on Sunday.
Maybe the 'peace negotiators' can reach a plea bargain for Abu Allah. After all, Livni has a thing for him (see above), and the 'peace negotiators' haven't been able to agree on anything else.
The ridiculousness of gag orders in the age of the internet
This might be the only country in the world that still thinks that they can block the publication of names of celebrities who have been accuses of crimes. And they can. At least from the public airwaves in Israel.
A famous Israeli singer (and draft dodger) is being investigated for taking advantage of underage girls. If you use Google, read blogs or Facebook (where I saw two identical pictures of him in the same place - one with his face scrambled), read anything from the Jewish community overseas, or watch Israel's Channel 1, you already know who this is.
But if you missed it, Channel 1 told the world last week. Let's go to the videotape.
Figured it out yet?
There's a blog in the US that has published that picture without the blurriness. You can search for it on Google. But if, like me, you're an Israeli, you're stuck publishing banal stories like this one from the Jerusalem Post.
Almost
a week after a scandal involving a famous Israeli singer and
allegations of sex with underage girls broke, the singer, his father,
and two other men were brought in for questioning on Wednesday, Tel
Aviv police said.
In addition to the singer, those being investigated include the manager of a well-known radio station and a Tel Aviv promoter.
The case,
which broke last week and has dominated the media since, involves one of
Israel’s most famous singers and a complaint made by one 15-year-old girl that
she had sexual relations with him on more than one occasion.
The media has been rife with reports that
people close to the singer “scouted” girls at his concerts and invited them to
the parties, a report that police would not confirm on Sunday.
That
allegation has been followed by testimony from other girls believed to be linked
to the case, which was first opened months earlier.
In the meantime, the Israeli blogger who broke the story has been 'called in for questioning'....
Figured it out yet? Here's another hint.
The singer, for his part, said during a concert in Tel Aviv on
Thursday night that “I had a difficult day, I could have canceled, but music
conquers all.”
Hmmm.
Don't get me wrong - there is still a place for gag orders in society. For example, earlier this week it was disclosed that Israel has been holding an al-Qaeda specialist in biological weapons for the last three years. The news broke when the terrorist appealed to the Supreme Court to be released because he has not yet been placed on trial. The Supreme Court refused to free him.
But a gag order is only in place when Israel's security is involved. When what's at stake is the (already sullied) reputation of a teen idol, the gag order is out of place. Better that the girls should be warned about him. The age of Big Brother 'protecting' us should have ended a long time ago.
UPDATE 3:55 PM
Eyal Golan's name has now been cleared for publication.
Why were 'Palestinian' terrorists at IDF Colonel's home?
Two 'Palestinians' from a village near Hebron are suspected of murdering IDF (res.) Colonel Seraya Ofer HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) outside his Jordan Valley home last Thursday night with metal bars and axes. But there are some curious parts to this story.
A senior
security source said it was still too soon to conclusively determine the motive
for deadly attack, but added that some media reports claiming that the incident
was a failed robbery or otherwise criminal in nature were unfounded.
It
appears that security forces believe the slaying was most likely a terrorist
attack.
Ofer, nicknamed Yaya, was set upon by men carrying metal bars and
axes after stepping outside of his home in the holiday village of Brosh Habika
early on Friday morning. His wife, Monique, fled the scene and
survived.
The Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] took the lead in the
investigation, and began chasing down intelligence leads from the moment the
murder was reported. Meanwhile, a mobile crime scene investigation lab set up by
Judea and Samaria District Police found several items, including murder weapons,
security forces said.
On Saturday, following an intelligence tip off
received by the Shin Bet, three Palestinian residents of the village of Dir
Samat, near Hebron, were arrested.
Two of the suspects, named as Fard
Talab Harub, 18, and Basher Ahmed Harub, 21, confessed to carrying out the
murder, the Shin Bet added.
The suspects said during questioning that
they arrived at the murder victim's home two weeks ago late at night, though
they did not assault anyone on that occasion. The information is consistent with
an account given by Sraya's wife, Monique, who told security forces that youths
from Hebron had previously arrived at her home in a suspicious
manner.
Five Palestinians arrested by security forces on Friday have been
released without charge.
...
"After
fleeing the scene, the killers walked eight to ten kilometers south on foot,
before entering a vehicle and leaving the area," Bruner said. "We found the
footprints at 3 a.m.," Bruner said, adding that soldiers tracked them into the
morning hours.
Bruner said none of the equipment left behind by the
attackers indicated that they had intended to rob Ofer's home.
No, they didn't want to rob Ofer's house. But this wasn't a random terror attack either. Hebron is nowhere near Brosh Habika, and if these terrorists wanted to carry out a random terror attack, they could have found plenty of targets much closer by.
And what were they doing at Ofer's house two weeks ago? Staking it out?
Three possible answers:
1. Ofer was a Leftist and they came to meet with him. I have not found any evidence of this yet one way or the other.
2. They came to meet with Ofer to demand something, and when he didn't give them what they wanted, they took revenge against Ofer for something in the past. He had a rather checkered background.
In 2009, Sraya Ofer was sentenced to six months community service and
an NIS 20,000 fine, on charges that included obstruction of justice and
tampering with an investigation, for his role in the intimidation of a
witness in a tax case against him. Another defendant, attorney Avital
Lambursky, received a similar sentence in the case. Ofer had hired
Lambursky to find the witness, Shimshon Naamat, who was suspected of
forging tax receipts worth some NIS 16.5 million.
According to the
indictment, Ofer and Lambursky tracked down Naamat and followed his car
to Tiberias, where they met with him at night, with a number of armed
associates present, and pressured him to give false testimony to tax
investigators.
In 2011, Sraya was acquitted of fraud,
counterfeiting, tax evasion and conspiracy, following an indictment
issued in 2003 accusing him of failing to pay some NIS 13m.
3. The 'Palestinians' staked out the house two weeks ago because they wanted to kill a high-ranking IDF officer. Ofer fit the bill.
Ofer served in a range of combat posts, including as commander of the
Shaked commando unit – which was subsequently dissolved in 1979 – and
as a founding member of the Israel Air Force’s Shaldag commando unit.
He was one one of the founders of the Brosh Habika vacation village where the attack took place.
I think it's safe to say that this was not a random killing, and therefore, unless you classify all attacks by Arabs on Jews as terrorism, it was not a terror attack. The real questions are the motive for the killing and who hired two young kids to carry it out.
Here's something that ought to make American Jews uncomfortable. The Black Panther party - last seen observing polling places for the Obama campaign - has issued a death threat against (and is offering a bounty for the murder of) George Zimmerman whom it calls a 'no good Jew.'
The death of Doron Ben Shlush (pictured) last Friday at the entrance to the Kotel (Western Wall) plaza may not have been accidental. You may recall that the security guard who shot him claimed that Ben Shlush had yelled Allah-hu-Akhbar and pulled something out of his pocket. It now appears that Ben Shlush did nothing of the sort. Instead, he was involved in a verbal altercation with the security guard, 25-year old Hadi Kabalan, a Druze from Beit Jann, that Ben Shlush shouted a racial epithet and that Kabalan pulled a weapon and shot him ten times. Kabalan may now be charged with murder.
The court lifted a gag order on the identity
of the shooter; he is 25-year-old Border Police officer Hadi Kabalan from the
Druse village of Beit Jann in the Upper Galilee.
Kabalan says he shot
Ben- Shalush several times because he thought he was a terrorist, but police
suspect a verbal confrontation in which Ben-Shalush shouted a racial slur at
Kabalan may have motivated the shooting.
Kabalan is being held for
alleged manslaughter; however, he may be charged with murder when an indictment
against him is filed.
Kabalan has said Ben- Shalush shouted “Allahu
akbar” and reached into his pocket, thus leading him to believe that Ben-Shalush
was a terrorist. However police now say Ben-Shalush may have yelled curses at
Kabalan about his Druse heritage before the shooting.
At Kabalan’s
previous remand hearing, the transcripts of which were released on Sunday, his
lawyer bristled at the charges and the suggestion by the prosecution that his
client, who has spent most of his career in various security services and with
highly positive reviews, was a flight risk or might obstruct the
investigation.
The lawyer added that the guard had never served in the
Western Wall area before, contributing to his not recognizing Ben- Shalush, who
was a regular in the area.
Multiple witness told Maariv that the guard, a 25-year-old Druze man
from northern Israel, and the victim, 46-year-old Doron Ben Shlush, had
multiple verbal altercations during the short time that the guard had
been employed at the site. One fellow security guard said that the
shooter, whose identity has not been released, previously told his
superiors that Ben Shlush had threatened to kill him.
Hmmm.
There are a large number of 'regulars' at sunrise at the Kotel - I know some of them. If Ben Shalush was a regular, it's hard to believe that someone could legitimately have suspected him of being a terrorist.
Given how unpopular Lapid's budget is, it probably could have been just about anyone.
But I have to say that the picture above looks more like something that would appear on LATMA than like a serious effort at 'incitement.' He doesn't look like a Nazi in the picture - just like someone doing a poor job of disguise.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
