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Dear Friends, amv"sh
Our friends in Eretz Yisroel are depending on us. Please email this to your email lists and Rabbanim, and print it out and leave and post in shuls and other public places and urge people to act AND FULFILL THE MITZVAH D'ORAYTA (Biblical commandment) OF AL TAAMOD AL DAM REIACHA (not to stand idly when your brother's blood is being spilled or about to be spilled which is likely to happen chas veshalom with the establishment of a Palestinian State) AND the Mitzvah of PIDYON SHVUYIM (releasing captives).
Thank you Susie Dym mattot.arim@gmail.com and
Datya Itzhaki pidionshvuim@yahoo.com, for these action alerts!
Urgent about AIPAC: Will AIPAC encourage rocket attacks on Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem?
AIPAC's Policy Conference starts today (2 June). The important speakers will be speaking on 4 June : http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/2841.asp
It is very important to make sure that the speakers there (US presidential candidates, Olmert, etc.) do not burble on about options that are sheer lunacy, such as the "Palestinian state" option.
AIPAC is a huge and very important American Jewish organization. Contact them about this problem by writing IMMEDIATELY to: press@aipac.org, membership@aipac.org, MARreg@aipac.org, hkohr@aipac.org.
For example, you could write:
"Urgent about the AIPAC Conference!
AIPAC leaders, please pre-confirm with your guest speakers that they will not mention the "Palestinian state" idea in any way. As Israel's most conciliatory newspaper, Haaretz, has said: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/875942.html
"There is a growing consensus in Israel that a withdrawal from the West Bank is no longer possible….The reason is obvious: Israel …does not want Qassam rockets against Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Ben-Gurion International Airport."
If AIPAC's leaders have any compassion at all for the poor rocket victims in Sderot, it is their duty to make sure that Israel's terrible rocket problem does not spread, under their auspices, to Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Ben-Gurion airport. So, please emphasize to your guests: No Palestinian State in your address to our conference!
Nu? What's going on with the Halamish brothers?
President Peres has not yet taken up the issue of their presidential pardon; in the meantime the 2 brothers continue to languish in prison -- for having shot in the air.
Come on folks. Let's not be bashful. Let's pick up the receiver, call up the Bet Hanassi and ask: Hi there, what's new with the Brothers Halamish, I am worried about this, can the President take this matter up TODAY?
026707211 -- weekdays 8:00-19:00. Fax, 24 hours a day: 025611033
Remember to contact us mattot.arim@gmail.com if you hear anything interesting. Thank you so much.
June 2, 2008
Pidion Shvuim Alert:
No. 13
Israeli Judge Again Postpones Release Decision of Rivka Meirchik
On June 1, Kfar Saba Magistrate Nitza Maimon Shashua scheduled yet
another hearing for a decision on the release of Rivka Meirchik despite an
earlier decision by Petah Tikva District Court Judge Ruth Lorch that her
arrest and detention are illegal.. [The hearing on June 1 was originally
scheduled for May 29 but was postponed after chief police prosecutor Shir
Laufer said she was vacationing in Eilat.]
Meirchik, who remained handcuffed and shackled in leg-irons throughout
the hearing, has refused to be handcuffed inside the Neve Tirza prison where
she is kept in solitary confinement and denied visitation and telephone
rights. Prison authorities have also denied her the right from meeting with
her attorney in her cell.
After the hearing, prison guard Orit Hasidi speeded Meirchik out of the
courtroom into a waiting prison van despite the judge's order to allow her
to meet with defense attorney Aviad Visoly.
Earlier, police at the Kfar Saba court barred friends from entering the
open court session after they said that Tzvia Sariel, who earlier this year
spent three months in prison in similar circumstances, was provocative. The
judge later agreed to admit her.
Meirchik, who appeared gaunt, managed to convey to family members that
she was hungry.
"My sister is very allergic and can only eat certain foods," Rivka's
sister Racheli said. "We, the family, hired the attorney, because we want to
see Rivka released. Why is there so much foot-dragging and why does it
[judicial process] take so long?"
Meirchik, like Sariel, has refused to accept the authority of the court
including agreeing to police conditions for her release and is being held
until the end of judicial proceedings.
"According to the police release sheet, the reason for her arrest was
that she refused to identify herself," Visoly said. "There was no other
cause."
Visoly said the police arrest record shows that Meirchik, arrested at
the Shvut Ami Jewish community near Kedumim on April 2, was arrested for
failing to identify herself and not for committing any other offenses. Only
later, Visoly said, police charged Meirchik with trespassing, disturbing and
assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and violating a military
closure order.
"The arresting officer did not follow protocol when he failed to
identify himself or explain [to Meirchik] that she was arrested and for what
reason," Visoly said. "According to paragraph 24 of the criminal code, this
arrest was illegal. And in the case of an illegal arrest, the suspect has a
right to resist."
The Petah Tikva District Court also deemed Meirchik's arrest and
incarceration illegal for another reason. She was imprisoned and ordered
held until the end of judicial proceedings before the prosecution presented
any evidence against her.
The next hearing is scheduled for June 5 at the Kfar Saba Magistrates
Court.
The major Israeli media, particularly the state-operated radio and
television, did not mention a word of this travesty of justice. So, we must
turn to you, lovers of Israel, who were so effective in the case of Tzvia
Sariel and who, thanks to your efforts was released from jail, and ask that
you act to help defend Jewish rights in Israel.
As a first step, we request that you telephone -- rather than e-mail --
the Israeli Embassy or the Israeli consulate nearest you and demand to know
why Rivka is still in prison. The embassy's phone number is 202-364-5500.
Stress, that as an American citizen, you can ask the State Department to
investigate what you feel is clearly a human rights violation.
Now, we are asking you to call your member of Congress and raise the
issue of Rivka Meirchik. We also ask you to call the State Department's
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and inform them of Rivka and
demand an investigation. Tell the department officer you have also raised
Rivka's case with your member of Congress. The State Department's main
numbers are 202-647-4000 or 1-800-877-8339.
The Olmert government, with an approval rating of near zero, has refused
any accountability to the Israeli people and fears only the Bush
administration. Unless we act now, there will be many more Rivkas in jail.
If you agree with this, please act quickly. What could be more important
than winning the release of a Jewish child imprisoned for loving her country
and people?
We also urgently need your help to pressure the office of President Shimon Peres this week to pardon Dani and Itzik Halamish who are innocent of any crime but are sitting in prison.
Please contact the military attaché at the Israeli Embassy [telephone: 202-364-5500] and ask to speak to the military attaché. Express your outrage that the Israel Army abandoned its fighters for protecting Jews. Don't argue. The military attache's office knows exactly what you're talking about. Stress that you are an American citizen whose support for the Israeli military is based on its protection of Jews. Say that you also plan to discuss this case with your member of Congress who decides on U.S. military aid to Israel.
You can also fax the president's office at: 972 2 5671314.
With Love of Israel,
Datya Itzhaki
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