\"It\'s not the prison term that bothers me, but the conviction.\" So said Margalit Har-Shefi this morning, shortly before beginning her prison term of nine months. \"The court tried to get into my thoughts, but I know the truth. The truth is something that even prison cannot change. I hope that G-d gives me the strength to endure this, and to continue to fight for the truth and justice until it comes to light.\" She then quoted a verse from Psalms, \"For judgment shall return to justice, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.\"
Hundreds of Beit El residents and supporters held a rally on her behalf this morning in Beit El. Speakers included Rabbis Zalman Melamed and Shabtai Sabato, who compared the case to a \"blood libel.\" Other supporters held another rally outside her new prison cell upon her arrival, holding signs reading \"We Believe Margalit.\" Her first furlough will be almost ten weeks from now, after she has completed the required 1/4 of her prison term. If her sentence is not shortened by parole or pardon, she will serve nine months in Ramle\'s Nvei Tirtzah - the only women\'s prison in Israel.
A former Prison Service superintendent told Arutz-7 today, \"One of the major disadvantages of Israel\'s prisons is that there is only one in the entire country for women. This means that women of all types are together in the same prison - murderers, prostitutes, drug addicts, and all the rest. I hope and am sure that they will show understanding and place Margalit Har-Shefi in the \'clean\' wing, i.e., clean of drugs...\" [They did so. - ed. note] He said that he feels that the rallies on her behalf \"are liable to hurt her, in that she is now in the spotlight, and the authorities will act with her exactly according to the book and not show her any extra courtesies...\"
Har-Shefi\'s aunt Emunah Elon later explained, however, that the support shown to Margalit in the rallies was very helpful to her:
\"Margalit understands - and this is what is helping her to endure this surrealistic and unbelievable experience - that she is really just a symbol of the entire so-called \'settlers\' and religious camp, and that the hatred that is directed at her is really just a symbol of the hatred [of some] against the entire camp... We still feel that the truth will come to light, despite the perversion of justice that we have seen here - we still believe this, as this is our legal system, and our State, the country of the People of Israel after 2,000 years...\"
She was asked if it is still possible that her jail sentence might be commuted to public service. Ms. Elon:
\"There was an initiative of this nature, and it might actually have worked, because there are some public figures whose conscience began to bother them about her actually going to jail. But Margalit said no, that she is not willing for them to quiet their conscience in this way. She says either her innocence will be recognized by all, or she is willing to sit in jail - because as she said today, the prison term is not the main thing that bothers her, but the conviction itself, and she wants to go through the regular legal channels in order to get a pardon - nothing else will compensate her.\"
Hundreds of Beit El residents and supporters held a rally on her behalf this morning in Beit El. Speakers included Rabbis Zalman Melamed and Shabtai Sabato, who compared the case to a \"blood libel.\" Other supporters held another rally outside her new prison cell upon her arrival, holding signs reading \"We Believe Margalit.\" Her first furlough will be almost ten weeks from now, after she has completed the required 1/4 of her prison term. If her sentence is not shortened by parole or pardon, she will serve nine months in Ramle\'s Nvei Tirtzah - the only women\'s prison in Israel.
A former Prison Service superintendent told Arutz-7 today, \"One of the major disadvantages of Israel\'s prisons is that there is only one in the entire country for women. This means that women of all types are together in the same prison - murderers, prostitutes, drug addicts, and all the rest. I hope and am sure that they will show understanding and place Margalit Har-Shefi in the \'clean\' wing, i.e., clean of drugs...\" [They did so. - ed. note] He said that he feels that the rallies on her behalf \"are liable to hurt her, in that she is now in the spotlight, and the authorities will act with her exactly according to the book and not show her any extra courtesies...\"
Har-Shefi\'s aunt Emunah Elon later explained, however, that the support shown to Margalit in the rallies was very helpful to her:
\"Margalit understands - and this is what is helping her to endure this surrealistic and unbelievable experience - that she is really just a symbol of the entire so-called \'settlers\' and religious camp, and that the hatred that is directed at her is really just a symbol of the hatred [of some] against the entire camp... We still feel that the truth will come to light, despite the perversion of justice that we have seen here - we still believe this, as this is our legal system, and our State, the country of the People of Israel after 2,000 years...\"
She was asked if it is still possible that her jail sentence might be commuted to public service. Ms. Elon:
\"There was an initiative of this nature, and it might actually have worked, because there are some public figures whose conscience began to bother them about her actually going to jail. But Margalit said no, that she is not willing for them to quiet their conscience in this way. She says either her innocence will be recognized by all, or she is willing to sit in jail - because as she said today, the prison term is not the main thing that bothers her, but the conviction itself, and she wants to go through the regular legal channels in order to get a pardon - nothing else will compensate her.\"