Jerusalem Judge Malka Aviv ordered Kiryat Arba resident Zev Braude released from custody, criticizing the police and State Prosecution for blindly following the media’s version of events in which he shot at Arabs in self-defense.
Braude was arrested last week during the violent eviction of Jews from Peace House in Hevron. He was charged with shooting at two Arabs, but the Jerusalem Magistrates Court judge does not accept this official version. “I have no doubt that the suspect poses no threat to his surroundings,” Judge Aviv stated. She did restrict him from entering Hevron, however.
Judge Aviv said, “The police blindly follow the press’ version of events,” and sharply criticized the authorities for having taken no action against violent Arabs who nearly lynched Braude during the eviction in Hevron.
The judge wrote that after she issued the ruling, a policeman entered her office and asked that Braude's release be pushed off for three hours. The judge refused. Soon after, a Prosecution representative entered her office and said, “It cannot be that a case such as this one, with such large echoes in the local and international media, should not be reconsidered.” She turned him down as well.
Judge Aviv noted that the police are apparently “held captive by the media-created conception, and it is difficult for the police to back off from it.”
After his release, Braude was charged with causing injury with grievous intent. The other Jew involved in the incident, Rabbi Gabi Bibi, who fired in the air to scare away the attackers, was released earlier in the week.
In response to the charges, the Families of the Jewish Prisoners – some of whom have been in prison for years without vacations for planning to attack Arabs – stated, “We have received another proof of the irrelevant and political considerations that guide the Government of Israel in its treatment of Jewish prisoners. On the one hand, it rewards terrorism by pardoning 45 wanted terrorists, and plans to release another 230 prisoners as a goodwill gesture – while on the other hand, Jews who defend themselves like Braude continue to rot in jail without basic rights.”
The B’Tselem human rights organization has disseminated a film purporting to show Braude and another Jew shooting the Arabs – but the Hevron-based Yesha Civil Rights organization says it can prove that the film was doctored and does not show the original Arab attack on the Jews.