The Be'er Sheva District Court has accepted the state's appeal against the relatively lenient punishment imposed on three people convicted of invading the home of Rabbi Moshe Havlin, the Ashkenazi rabbi of the city of Kiryat Gat last September, sentencing one of them to six months in prison and the other two to two months each. They were ordered to pay the rabbi and his wife 10,000 shekels compensation.
The three defendants were convicted on charges of unlawful gathering and trespassing, in violation of Rabbi Havlin's privacy, against the background of his membership in the Rabbinical Court of Chabad, which approved an arrangement with the Israel Defense Forces regarding the enlistment of Chabad yeshiva students into the army. The original plea bargain included probation and compensation.