Prison (illustrative)
Prison (illustrative)iStock

Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, who chairs the Organization of Community Rabbis, came out in defense of D., a Palestinian Authority Arab who was jailed for converting to Judaism.

D. underwent the conversion process with leading haredi halakhic authority Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, who passed away this week, and succeeded in obtaining a certificate that he immersed in the mikva (ritual bath), but did not yet obtain a certificate of conversion.

He was kidnapped by the Palestinian Authority, and has been sitting in a PA jail for the past 15 days, undergoing severe abuse.

"Where are all the human rights organizations? B'tselem, Giyur K'halacha, 'Rabbis' for Human Rights. Where all the voices of the rabbis who published a video in support of the infiltrators? Where on earth is the outcry from the media?" Rabbi Eliyahu asked.

"The State would be up in arms if this man was a Sudanese infiltrator. When a person converts properly he becomes part of us, he becomes one of us. That's why we're so careful about making sure he's serious about the process.

"Every righteous convert should know that is our brother and our flesh, that we love him with a true love and we are not willing for anyone to lay hands on him."