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Dear fellow activists, amv"sh
B"h we were successful with Tzvia Sariel. The settlers are being targeted and dealt with unfairly. We must protest their right to self defense. The following was sent to me by Women in Green and Datya Ithaki of Pidyon Shvuyim who are working on behalf of the Halamish brothers. Please do what you can to see that this injustice of imprisoning innocent settlers when they are forced to defend themselves is not actualized. This injustice goes beyond these two boys. It will empower the Arabs to more acts of violence knowing that their victims will be persecuted if they respond in kind.
Ruth and Nadia Matar writes:
Dear Friends,
As we told you after Tsviya Sariel's release from almost 4 months in prison, the next case we must deal with and act is the case of the two brothers Itzik and Danny Halamish.
Danny and Itzik are supposed to go to jail on April 10th (in less than two weeks) for a period of 8 months. Their "crime"- defending themselves against Arab attackers.
As has lately become the norm in our anti-Jewish Israeli Injustice system, the judges decided to believe the version of the Arab attackers rather than Itzik and Danny's version. Below you will find more details about the case, written by Pidionshvuim, a group of lovers of Israel who are active in an effort to help Jews persecuted by the Israeli judiciary because of their loyalty to the land of Israel.
Many Women in Green leaders and members know Itzik and Danny personally for many years. Two Israel loving Zionist pioneers, sons of parents who founded the community of Ofrah, they are the salt of the earth. Itzik, 28, is single. He is a carpenter. Danny, 37, is a computer programmer. He is married to Limor, and is the father of Naama, two and a half years old and Yirel, half a year old.
The very thought that those two youngsters would go to jail instead of the Arabs who attacked them, is simply unbearable.
We urge all of you to read the letter below and act by faxing and calling the different people mentioned at the end of this email.
With love of Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
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March 25, 2008
Pidion Shvuim Alert: No. 5
Two Jewish Brothers Sent to Prison for Protecting Jewish Community
Danny and Yitzhak Halamish are two quiet young men who under any other circumstances would be regarded as the pride of the Jewish people. They both served in top Israeli combat units, and when they finished the military they fought for Jews under threat of expulsion from the Gaza Strip. They also founded the community of Maalei Rehavam in the Judean Desert.
Today, the brothers await the start of their jail sentence. They are convicted of aggravated assault by a corrupt police force and a lackadaisical judge. Their appeals of innocence have been rejected by the judiciary.
Are the Halamishes guilty of a crime? Absolutely not. Indeed, the only crime committed was by an army that abandoned the two brothers and an Israeli court system that convicted them without evidence. But the brothers are lovers of Zion and builders of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria. And that makes them dangerous to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who pressured by Washington plans to destroy Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem over the next year.
The Halamishes, as part of their reserve military service, were members of a security response team organized, equipped and trained by the Israeli Army to help protect their community and surrounding region from Arab attack. On Feb. 21, 2004, the brothers were summoned by another security officer, Baruch Feldbaum, to help expel Arab Bedouins who trespassed into the Jewish community of Sdei Bar and were encamped near a student dormitory. Arab Bedouin tribes in the area had been deemed responsible for the killing of several Jews in the area in previous years.
Under the direction of Feldbaum, the Halamish brothers ordered the Arab squatters to leave. The Arabs refused, and about 20 of them approached the Jewish security officers with sticks and rocks. Feldbaum shot toward the ground when the Bedouins continued to move closer.
The response team later said that they shot in self-defense. An army medic who arrived at the scene determined that nobody was struck by the gunfire, an assertion disputed by the Arabs.
At that point, the military abandoned its own security team and allowed a police investigation. Feldbaum was sentenced to nine months in prison, but later was pardoned by President Moshe Katsav.
The Halamishes weren't as lucky. Although police refused to conduct ballistic tests or even a lineup of suspects, the brothers were convicted of shooting toward the Bedouins. Danny was sentenced to seven months in prison; Yitzhak, to eight months. An Israeli appeals court said ballistic tests or a lineup were not necessary. The word of the Arab Bedouins -- who refused to show up to police headquarters to identify their purported assailants -- was enough.
The court also rejected a recommendation by the probation officer for community service. The three-judge panel said it wanted the Halamish brothers to go to jail to serve as a lesson to others.
Unless we act, the Halamish brothers will be sent to jail on April 10 and their tiny community of Maalei Rehavam will be seriously harmed. As we see it, the Halamishes have been abandoned by the army and railroaded by the police and the judiciary.
Therefore, we urge you to act as you did so valiantly for Tzvia Sariel.
For US Citizens:
Call, rather than e-mail, the Israel Embassy in Washington [telephone 202-364-5500] and demand to speak to the military attaché.
Tell him or his aide that you are outraged by the abdication of military responsibility of its own soldiers, who will go to jail because they helped protect Jews. Say that as an American citizen who contributes to the $2.4 billion of U.S. military aid to Israel, you demand the immediate release of the Halamish brothers. Say that you also plan to discuss this case with your member of Congress.
The Olmert government, with an approval rating of near zero, has refused to admit any accountability to the Israeli people, and respects and fears only the Bush Administration. Unless we act now, there will be many more young Jews in jail. If you agree with this, please act quickly. What could be more important than saving the lives of our fellow Jews?
With Love of Israel,
Datya Itzhaki
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Below please find all the contact information-
Each fax and phonecall makes a difference
"It is not up to you to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it"
Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
1) FOR U.S. CITIZENS:
Call, rather than e-mail, the Israel Embassy in Washington [telephone 202-364-5500] and demand to speak to the military attaché.
2) To find the Consulate nearest you in the USA, click on http://www.israelemb.org/israeli-consulate-in-usa.htm
3) Embassies and consulates in the world: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/diplomatic%20missions/Web%20Sites%20of%20Israeli%20Missions%20Abroad
4) IN ISRAEL
In addition to pressuring in the States, we must pressure the authorities in Israel too.The only way the Halamish brothers can get out of going to jail is by having the President of Israel pardon them. A demand for a pardon has been filed by the family with the President and with the Department of Pardons at the Justice Ministry. The more faxes and phonecalls they will receive from the friends of Israel in Israel and abroad, outraged by this injustice, the more chance we have to save Itzik and Danny from prison.
*President's House tel 972-2-6707211
fax 972-2-6707274
ask to speak to the department of Pardons and make sure your fax arrived. (They are open every day from 9am till 11 am and from 1pm to 3 pm)
* Ministry of Justice-Department of Pardons
tel: 972-2- 6466801
fax: 972-2-6466813
Send your faxes to the Attention of Attorney Emmy Palmor
* Very Important: send a copy of your letters to Shas Minister Eli Yishai and other Shas ministers and urge them to act on behalf of the Halamish brothers
Shas Members of Knesset:
(we apologize if not all numbers are correct. Sometimes they change their numbers)
1. Chaim Amsellem Tel: 02-649-6457 02-675-3474 fax 02-649-6527 eamsalem@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-900-9393
2. Ariel Atias Tel: 02-675-3220 aatias@knesset.gov.il Minister of Communications 050-530-7028
3. David Azoulay Tel: 02-640-8184 02-640-8185 fax:02-675-3908 dazulay@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-549-4151
4. Shlomo Benizri Tel: 02-640-8196 02-640-8197 fax:02-675-3747 slomob@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-633-11-55
5. Amnon Cohen Tel: 02-640-8372 02-640-8373 fax 02-640-8927 amncohen@knesset.gov.il
050-5515-361
6. Yitzhak Cohen Tel: 02-640-8397 02-640-8398 fax: 02-670-6157 izchakec@knesset.gov.il
05045-7005
7. Yakov Margi Tel: 02-640-8187 02-640-8188 fax: 02-675-3759 ymargi@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-496-3737
8. Avraham Michaeli Tel: 02-640-8128 02-640-8129 fax: 02-675-3961 <amichaelli@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-333-1526
9. Meshulam Nehari Tel: 02-640-8446 02-640-8447 fax: 02-649-6447 mnahari@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-744-0120
10. Yitzhak Vaknin Tel: 02-640-8106 fax 02-649-6027 yvaknin@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-545-6706
11. Eliyahu Yishai Tel: 02-640-8406 02-640-8407 fax: 02-666-2909 eyishav@knesset.gov.il
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee cellphone: 050-624-0932
12. Nissim Zeev Tel: 02-640-8151 02-640-8152 fax: 02-649-6549 nzeev@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-5411-752
More Shas Contact Info:
Tel: 02-675-3550
Fax 02-649-6543
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