The indictment against Women in Green chief Matar claimed that she had violated the ban on "insulting a public servant" when she compared Bassi to the Judenrat by agreeing to take part in the expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and Shomron.



“On September 19, 2004," the indictment states, "the accused faxed a letter to Disengagement Authority chief Yonatan Bassi at his home stating, inter alia: ‘…All your declarations won’t help, Yonatan. The truth is that you are the modern version of the Judenrat, and truly a much more terrible version, because during the Holocaust, the task was forced upon the Jewish leadership by the Nazis, and it is very difficult for us today to judge them. Today, there is nobody standing with a gun to your head focing you to collaborate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria…’ ”



Israel's Attorney General, as head of the State Prosecutor's office, is assigned the power to decide whether or not an indictment is lodged against an accused citizen. After the text of the letter was widely publicized in the media, AG Menachem Mazuz announced that Matar would be indicted.



Indictment - Null and Void

Jerusalem Magistrates Court Justice David Mintz ordered the indictment expunged Sunday, explaining, “I am relying, in my decision, on the statement of the Attorney General himself, who said, ‘Criminal law cannot be the answer to all the ills of Israeli society.’ Unrestrained criticism is, to our sorrow, a day-to-day part of the Israeli reality… Any time we are dealing with freedom of speech, criminal law does not present the correct and effective tool. I am therefore ordering the erasing of the charge.”



Matar received vocal support from Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Yisrael Aumann, and 2,146 people re-sent copies of her letter with their names affixed to the bottom – daring the Attorney General to file indictments against them as well.



Representing Matar was prominent attorney Yoram Sheftel. In his opening statement in the trial (the full text of which can be read by clicking here), Sheftel summed up his approach: that the prosecution was engaging in "selective law enforcement founded on invalid political considerations and/or on cowardice."



Sheftel's Speech

Sheftel went on to present an exhaustive list of public figures, such as Shas Party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin, as well as left-wing activists, whose inflammatory statements the Attorney General has declined to prosecute.



“It is inconceivable," Sheftel said, "that the Court, after becoming aware of the facts that I will list, will leave in place the charge sheet, which would completely undermine the trust of the public, or at last of the decisive majority of the public, in the authorities entrusted with the enforcement of the law.”



Sheftel cited dozens of statements by the first President of the State of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, and the first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, calling Revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky a "Hitlerist" and “Vladimir Hitler,” as well as terming Menachem Begin "the embodiment of the worst of Nazism."



“My client did not say: ‘Yonatan Basi is a Hitlerist’ - but Chaim Weizmann did use that language,” Sheftel said.



A petition filed against MK Beilin for his signing of the private Geneva Initiative with the PLO, Sheftel said, fit exactly with Israel’s legal description of treason, which is: “An action to remove sovereign territory of the State of Israel from its bounds - the punishment for which is the death penalty.”



“The Attorney General said, ‘This is not the criminal field that is suitable for such treatment…[and is] subject to public debate.’ The Disengagement, that is, the deportation, wasn't 'subject to public debate?'” Sheftel asked. “The same State Attorney's office that does not file charges against Yossi Beilin for genuine traitorous activity, in cooperation with hostile elements, files charges against Nadia Matar.”



“Incidentally, right now, the Prime Minister's daughter, before the cameras of the foreign press, close to the Chief of Staff's house (where she invited them), calls the IDF Chief of Staff a 'murderer.' The Chief of Staff is a public servant. Was an investigation opened for this? Will she be put on trial?”



Matar herself took the stand in the course of the trial, stating: “This comes at a time when... members of Peace Now are spying and informing on behalf of the Arab enemy. At this time, Knesset Members and left-wing public figures are shaking the bloodstained hands of Hamas members. At this time, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admits that he is prepared to repeat the crime of handing weapons, ammunition and pieces of the homeland to the Arab enemy. All these people are not being brought to justice for their treasonous and criminal words and deeds.



“But we, the Jews, who dare to criticize the crime of expulsion of Jews and abandoning of our land to the Arab – we are chased and trampled, with pogroms perpetrated against us, as in Amona, and put us on trial.”



'Kapo' is Not Strong Enough

“Just so it is clear to all,” Matar declared. “You can't frighten us! We will not be silenced! I do not take back a single word of the letter I sent Yonatan Bassi. On the contrary, it is now clear how much pain and suffering this man, together with all the rest of the expulsion criminals, caused to our expelled brothers in particular, and to all citizens of Israel in general. The word Judenrat is much too moderate. The word has not yet been invented to describe the monstrosity of the Jews who caused so much damage to their fellow Jews. The words kapo, traitor or collaborator are also too moderate.”



“Even if I have to sit in prison for these words, I will continue to cry out these words: The Land of Israel belongs to the nation of Israel in accordance with the Torah of Israel, and anyone who lends a hand to hand over parts of our homeland and expel Jews – from the Prime Minister, to the ministers and IDF officers, down to junior clerks like Yonatan Bassi – must be put on trial for betrayal of Zionism and Judaism, for collaborating with the Arab enemy – which continues in the way of the Nazis, to murder and destroy the Jews.”



Speaking with Arutz-7 following the verdict, Matar said she is very happy to see that the court “finally realizes that the prosecution sometimes includes politics in its decision to hand down indictments. It was a big blow to the prosecution.”



Attorney Sheftel expressed reserved optimism: “This was the lowest court of the land, dealing with less important cases, so the decision definitely does not hold the power of precedent that a Supreme Court decision would. However, to the best of my knowledge, it was the first time an Israeli court has nullified charges against a criminal defendant implicitly due to the fact that it actually accepted the argument that the charges were brought because of political considerations.”



The prosecution now has 45 days to appeal the case to the district court. Matar and Sheftel are considering suing the prosecution to cover legal expenses.