Following a six-week legal struggle, the police in Hevron informed Yehuda Cohen of Bat Ayin at the end of last week that it had changed its mind about confiscating his gun license. The Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Civil Rights Organization (YCRO), headed by Orit Strook of Hevron, calls upon the Jewish residents of Yesha to fight against the police tendency to revoke their weapons.
Cohen, a shepherd, complained in the summer of repeated Arab stalking and attacks against his fellow shepherds. In one case, a shepherd even required medical treatment in a hospital. To Cohen's surprise, his complaints led the police not to take action against the Arabs, but rather to revoke his weapon. The police said this would "prevent future clashes."
YCRO decided to fight, together with Cohen, against what they called this "arbitrary police decision" - and the police finally gave in, informing Cohen's lawyer, Naftali Wurtzberger, that it was no longer seeking to confiscate Cohen's gun.
YCRO's Orit Strook expressed satisfaction with the decision, and called upon the police to change its entire approach. "It cannot be that the way to avoid Jewish-Arabs always comes at the expense of Jews' basic civil rights," she said. "The police must stop looking for the coin under the streetlight. Law-enforcement must be more objective and more equalitarian."
Strook said that Yesha residents whose weapons are confiscated by the police must not accept this passively, "as such decisions may have been made with irrelevant motives and may not stand up to judicial and objective review."
In a related item, Daniel Pinner of Ariel had been scheduled to return to prison tomorrow for the final six months of his sentence - but the Supreme Court granted him a ten-day stay after his mother passed away in England over the weekend. The request for the delay was submitted by his lawyer Baruch Ben-Yosef. Pinner was convicted for having shot in the air in Gush Katif last year when a mob of Arabs threw rocks at him.
Cohen, a shepherd, complained in the summer of repeated Arab stalking and attacks against his fellow shepherds. In one case, a shepherd even required medical treatment in a hospital. To Cohen's surprise, his complaints led the police not to take action against the Arabs, but rather to revoke his weapon. The police said this would "prevent future clashes."
YCRO decided to fight, together with Cohen, against what they called this "arbitrary police decision" - and the police finally gave in, informing Cohen's lawyer, Naftali Wurtzberger, that it was no longer seeking to confiscate Cohen's gun.
YCRO's Orit Strook expressed satisfaction with the decision, and called upon the police to change its entire approach. "It cannot be that the way to avoid Jewish-Arabs always comes at the expense of Jews' basic civil rights," she said. "The police must stop looking for the coin under the streetlight. Law-enforcement must be more objective and more equalitarian."
Strook said that Yesha residents whose weapons are confiscated by the police must not accept this passively, "as such decisions may have been made with irrelevant motives and may not stand up to judicial and objective review."
In a related item, Daniel Pinner of Ariel had been scheduled to return to prison tomorrow for the final six months of his sentence - but the Supreme Court granted him a ten-day stay after his mother passed away in England over the weekend. The request for the delay was submitted by his lawyer Baruch Ben-Yosef. Pinner was convicted for having shot in the air in Gush Katif last year when a mob of Arabs threw rocks at him.