Hundreds of people demonstrated Tuesday outside the home of Minister Ayelet Shaked in the Ramat Hahayal neighborhood of Tel Aviv against the detention conditions of three minors in the custody of the Shin Bet.
The minors have been prevented from meeting their lawyers and their situation remains unknown. Large police forces blocked access to the minister's house and prevented the protesters from reaching the house.
The demonstration was attended by the father of one of the minors and the mother of another minor. The mother addressed Shaked as one mother to another. "I am a mother and you are a mother. I ask you, Minister Shaked, you are dealing with a matter of life and death. I am begging that my son be allowed to meet with an attorney, that our children have the full right to meet an attorney, that's what I'm asking you to do. That's what my heart wants, that it should also enter your heart. That's all I'm asking."
"Even terrorists get attorneys. Even [Nazi war criminal] Demjanjuk had an attorney. How is it that our children - good children who are fighting for our land - cannot get one? I beg you to intervene so they can have an attorney," the mother added.
Micahl Phua, a social activist, said at the rally: "Minister Shaked, you can start something new - starting this evening. Once in Duma they lied to you and said that there is no torture. Do not let them lie to you again. Stop the injustice. They are doing everything they can to get a confession. The Jewish department in the Shin Bet must be dismantled. Take your hand off of the boys. We will not sleep until the boys are released. They cannot be harmed."
In response to the demonstration in front of her house, the justice minister said that she had discussed the issue with the State Attorney and made it clear that she expected the rights of suspects to be protected by law, including allowing detained youths to meet with their attorney.
"The minister is naturally not aware of the investigations and cannot intervene in them," Shaked said in a statement.