The wives of two of the young Jews being held on vague suspicions of involvement in the lethal Duma arson in July have come forward to speak to the media about the breach of their husbands' rights, amid testimony that even the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) recognizes their innocence.
A media gag order remains in effect regarding the suspects, whose basic rights are being severely breached - they have been refused religious rights such as lighting Hanukkah candles, been banned from seeing their lawyers, and several have been denied medical treatment after being beaten during arrest.
T., the wife of a suspect apparently hailing from Kokhav Hashahar in Samaria, told Yedioth Aharonoth on Friday that she was only allowed to see her husband a week after his arrest, and even then it was only a fleeting glance as he was led to court.
"My husband is a law-abiding citizen who has dedicated his entire life to educating," emphasized the concerned wife. "They contacted him and asked him to arrive for a Shabak (ISA) investigation, he of course went for the investigation and updated me throughout the day."
"That night he came home tired and worn out from the long investigation. He is so loyal to the system that he didn't agree to tell me what happened. The next morning he went on his own will to continue the investigation and in the afternoon I got a phone call from the police informing me that my husband was arrested."
"I couldn't talk to him or hear details about what and why," she said. "I was shocked because he has no connection to the murder. How does it happen that a citizen disappears in an arrest like this?"
A., the wife of another suspect, told the news site that neither she nor his lawyer have been allowed to see her husband since he was arrested.
Asked what message she would like to send her husband, she called on him "not to testify to something that he didn't do" under the pressure of the draconian investigation.
"Someone needs to tell the Shabak that maybe they haven't found who did it, but they can't frame it on Jews who didn't do it," she said, in poignant comments given Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan's (Likud) admission last Friday that there is no evidence to try the suspects.
"Security members admit there is no connection"
T.'s husband has no criminal record, is a highly respected educator in his town, a recipient of the Presidential Award of Excellence for IDF soldiers, and works in a program to keep children from crime.
"He has no connection to this incident," said sources close to him. "In closed conversations with security members it was made clear to us that beyond any shadow of a doubt Shabak admits that (he has no connection)."
Their comments reinforce the testimony of Kokhav Hashahar's chief rabbi, Rabbi Ohad Krakover, who told Arutz Sheva on Thursday that "the investigation commander told me next to the gates of the jail that they know that he isn't connected to the event, but he isn't completely cooperating. Do you arrest a married man with four children for something like that?"
The sources close to the suspect told Yedioth Aharonoth that "his activities with the 'hilltop youth' were meant to bring them closer to the accepted frameworks and to the state of Israel, and not the opposite. In cases where the youth have anger at the system, he's always the one to put things in the context of contributing and advancing for them, and not the opposite."
They noted that they recently contacted the relevant sources requesting his release, saying, "we are law-abiding people and are in constant contact with the Israel police. We contacted the security forces and asked to meet in order to raise the matter."
"This arrest is leading towards a great break in terms of the relations with Shabak members and the security institutions. The fact that he is being held for so long without an indictment or even a trace of evidence has blurred all the concepts of faith in the system for us, and particularly for the youth."
"This man is not connected to the suspicions, and every day that he is in detention it is simply an injustice," they stressed. "It can't be that a democratic country allows loyal citizens to be jailed in disgraceful conditions without having committed any crime."
Regarding the Duma arson, some have speculated the investigation is following the wrong lead, given reports and unusual circumstances at the scene of the crime that would indicate the arson may have been an inside job committed by feuding residents of the Arab village. Israel has reportedly left investigation of the Arab village to the Palestinian Authority (PA), instead chasing the "Jewish terrorism" angle based on Hebrew graffiti found at the site.