Irit Albert, wife of Yitzhar resident Boaz Albert who was arrested for ignoring a restraining order distancing him from Judea and Samaria, described her husband’s arrest in an interview with Arutz Sheva on Thursday evening.
Albert provided a chilling description of the arrest, saying that the officers repeatedly used a taser gun on her husband, even as he yelled out in pain.
"We knew that Boaz would be arrested eventually and were prepared for this, but I have no words to describe the brutality of the police during the arrest," she said.
As the officers broke into the Alberts’ home, she said, "Boaz ran to one of the rooms and lay down on the floor. I could hear his cries of pain as he was repeatedly shocked by the police since he refused to leave the house on his own.”
Irit Albert said that even when the officers forcefully removed Boaz from his home, "they continued, as they dragged him towards a police car that waited in a nearby Arab village, to shock him again and again. It was dark but occasionally we could hear another scream and another scream and police yelling, ‘If you do not get up we will electrify you again.'”
Albert, 40, a father of six, said that he was being expelled because of pure vindictiveness, after he had spoken out in public and written articles against the IDF's policies vis-a-vis the resurgent Arab terrorism.
Irit told Arutz Sheva earlier this week that the couple has no idea why the order was issued.
"Other than the words 'resolute security considerations,' the order contains no explanation,” she said. “It is all classified material, for security reasons. No one knows. The judge doesn't know, the prosecutor doesn't know, it's all classified. No resident in the country can be distanced without providing a reason, only we residents of Judea and Samaria.”
The Women in Green grassroots Zionist organization strongly condemned Albert’s arrest, which it described as “scandalous”.
"Women in Green strongly condemn the scandalous arrest of Boaz Albert, a resident of Yitzhar, a father of six, who was arrested last night in a violent military operation in which security forces shot him and his brother with iron arrows from a taser gun and wounded him,” the organization said in a statement. “All this because of Albert's ‘crime’ of refusing to obey to the immoral and anti-democratic edict of expulsion that was given out to him. These expulsion orders are used solely against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and not against Arab stone-throwers nor against the European anarchists that attack soldiers.
“We call upon the Land of Israel Knesset members to intervene immediately for the release of Boaz and to enable him, after medical treatment, to go back to his family at his home in Yitzhar."
“From the security forces we expect to stop harassing Jews and start to address what is expected of them: to protect the citizens of Israel against Arab terrorists, among them the terrorist murderers who, to our horror and shame, were released just two days ago,” said Women in Green.
The Shomron Residents’ Committee, commenting on Albert’s arrest, expressed on Thursday its full support for Albert.
"Issuing administrative orders against residents of Judea and Samaria is crossing a red line,” said the head of the committee, Benny Katzover. “The use of administrative restraining orders against Israeli citizens is despicable and we support Boaz over his resistance and appreciate his courage over his readiness to pay a heavy price in this war."
MK Orit Struk (Bayit Yehudi) called on the police to release Albert.
"I call to release Boaz Albert whose only crime was his refusal to obey an undemocratic and immoral exile order,” she said. “The order’s sole purpose was to silence. Even the head of a crime family does not receive such an order. The only people who receive this kind of a warrant are settlers, whom law enforcement officers consider second class citizens.”