Elisheva Federman, wife of prominent nationalist activist Noam Federman, has begun a drive to collect 4,000 shekels that a court has ordered her to pay as punishment for words she uttered in a television interview.
Mrs. Federman was convicted of incitement to racism, when she voiced support for the expulsion of Arabs and expressed her appreciation for Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Muslims at the Cave of Patriarchs in 1994.
Federman's words were uttered and broadcast in a television interview with Chaim Yavin, a veteran television anchorman who created a series of programs about the Jews of Judea and Samaria. Yavin was not charged for incitement, although he made the film and had it screened on TV. Federman refused to defend herself in court, was found guilty and given a suspended jail sentence and a 4,000 shekel fine.
The Federmans recently began putting up posters asking the public to participate in a drive to pay the 4,000 shekels fine. The aim is not just to collect the money but to do it by taking one shekel each from 4,000 different people.
"I think that while our public has gotten used to be persecuted by the leftist establishment, there have to be red lines," Elisheva Federman said. "There are matters upon which we will not agree to stand trial."
"We will not consent to be tried for openly stating our thoughts, especially when what we said was true. I call upon everyone who thinks the State of Israel has made disproportionate and unreasonable use of its power to try its citizens - not to remain indifferent."
"If I receive on shekel from every person who thinks the suicide terrorists are not human beings, and that the Arab enemy must be expelled from among us, instead of letting him murder us and smile all the way to jail, I am sure that more than 4,000 people who think like I do, and even more so."