Pesach Sheni
29th Day of the Omer
Before Shabbat I was in touch with someone who has more
details about the upcoming release of Meir Ettinger from administrative
detention and the people who campaigned for it; this person permitted me to
quote without naming; thus, the following interview.
It is difficult for former Americans and others who have experienced
similar government structures to understand how Israel operates; it is a
democracy, but certain things don’t work in the same way and thus certain
actions taken will not have their intended effects. For instance, protesting
and otherwise asserting the people’s will; petitions don’t work here but other
things do, as we will see. (That’s why I will not put up notices for petitions
here for Israeli prisoners anymore. They do not work.) I learned a lot through
this conversation and wish to share.
It is my hope and prayer that this
post and similar ones that I have written in the past will join with the writings
of others to help with Pidyon Sh’vuyim פדיון שבויים, a very
important mitzvah, the freeing of prisoners. Consider all the Prisoners of Zion
throughout history: These are Jews who are either 1) in jail for sentences far
longer than fitting for their crimes because they are Jews (cf. Jonathan
Pollard); or 2) just because they’re Jews (like Meir) — any excuse will do. Nowadays,
defending oneself against the enemy is a frequently-employed reason to ban a
person from his hometown or put him in jail; in Meir’s instance, it was his
writings and even, apparently, manufactured writings attributed to him.
Center: Netzach Binyamin Ettinger. Credit: original video by Kol haYehudi/still derived by Yeshiva World News
CDG: Is there any thought about suing the government to pay
the legal bills and for the campaign? After all, our taxpayer shekels went into
the injustice, against our will. I for one would rather have the government use
what they already have to pay for the injustice they caused, not only to Meir,
but to all the other detainees as well.
Source: They can't sue. Administrative Detention is legal
in Israel.
CDG: I apologize for my ignorance. I have never lived under
laws like this before. I'm confused, so thank you for patiently explaining all
this to me.
So, if I understand you correctly, because there are no
charges against Meir, can there also be no financial compensation for his
imprisonment? What about the loss to his reputation (among some sectors; in
ours it has been enhanced, surely), his health, the fact that he couldn't see
his son born or brissed [circumcised -CDG]? How about how this affects his
wife? And all for NOTHING Meir did wrong.
I want Mashiach now, this minute.
Source: They can't sue. Right now there are 300 Arabs
under Administrative Detention. I am glad for that because it keeps them
off the streets, so less terrorists walking around. The first Jew they
used Administrative Detention on was Rabbi Kahane. He knew it was an
ongoing thing so he fasted until he started to lose his eye sight and then they
allowed him out. He had rabbis trying to convince the Rabbi to eat even a
piece of bread the size of an olive. He refused. His name and
organization was too big to allow him to die and they let him go. Meir
Ettinger fasted and start to faint on and off. They didn't even take him
to the hospital, but treated him in jail. If they want you to confess to
something or think you know something or feel you are a danger, or whatever the
h*ll they feel they can put you under this administrative detention in jail or
even in your home. They did that to Noam Federman and he couldn't go out
even on his porch, not step outside his door. They watched and if he was caught,
he would be back in jail. No charges: Old British Law. They
don't have to tell you or your lawyer why they are holding you. I have
lived here since 1978 and have seen much.
CDG: Well, I hope I did something right, then, when I posted
the link to the fundraising site on the notice in the upper right corner. I
hope that some people respond to it. This is why I was asking.
Source: We need the flow of money to keep this going with
publicity. Petitions are ok, but government really doesn't care about
that. In America every town has representation, and your representative
would care what you wrote or the petition you sent. She wants to be
elected again. We don't have that in Israel. You vote for a party
and that is it. Of course, they want to get elected again and try to do
what people want, but some change when they become MKs and some are reined in
by the Prime Minister if they are in the coalition. It’s a different
system. Democratic, but much different than America.
Shabbat Shalom.
***
DIRECTIONS: To donate to free the rest of the Jewish detainees
still in jail since last summer and fall (many are minors, and none of them
have conspired to assassinate people, burn houses down or any of those things;
many of them are the ones I am asking about along my sidebar), CLICK HERE. If you are donating from
outside of Israel, open the "To Donate..."
box and fill out the fields, skipping the ID# field, and press Click to Donate.
Thank you!
For more recent miraculous events, read this!
maybe israel isn't actually a democracy
ReplyDeletemaybe it's a military state that lacks back civil rights
where military commanders decide who is guilty and who is innocent
and who they will punish and how
you don't get to do that and call yourself a democracy even if you are jewish
CDG,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for going to all the effort of researching and then posting this information. It's genuinely helpful and MUCH appreciated.
Hello TT,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your comment. It gives me an opportunity to clarify: To be exact, one would have to say that the disputed territories (Yehuda and the Shomron -- Judea and Samaria) are under military rule and therefore are not democratic, as you've stated. The rest of Israel is a democracy, but more British-style. It was more socialist in earlier days, so most Israelis don't really know what democracy is, so are more easily pushed around by the elites who say, "if you don't agree with us you're undermining democracy." You and I know better than that.
These parts of Israel are disputed only because the Jewish elites here allow them to be. In the immediate aftermath of the 6-Day War, if we had done the right thing and treated them (and, of course, the Temple Mount -- Har haBayit) like the rest of Israel, there would be no conflict over them today. It's not so much that the land isn't ours, but that we (except for the Jews who live there) haven't fought tooth and nail to keep it.
Which brings me to my last question, for now: What is more important for Jews, living under a gentile-style democracy or under Jewish law?
If you look closely, you can see that America is falling apart. The rights of the majority are being violated in the name of democracy, for the sake of a very small minority over the issue of gender identity; yet, people don't dare oppose it due to the penalties involved (external reasons) and due to self-censure (internal reasons) imposed by the politically correct atmosphere. I don't think we'll have to wait long before evil heterosexuals will start taking advantage of this to claim they've changed GI this morning to get access to the opposite gender facilities for whatever evil reason.
Do we really want to walk down that road here in Israel? And that's just one aspect. Alexander Maistrovoy expresses America's problem (and that of other democracies) very well here.