'They handcuffed me to the chair for hours'
'They handcuffed me to the chair for hours'Eliran Aharon

One of the minors arrested by the Shin Bet and released to house arrest at the beginning of the week tells in an interview to Arutz Sheva about the moment of his arrest and the difficult time that followed.

First he tells about the arrest of his friends: "We were Shabbat at the yeshiva. In the morning we got up to pray at dawn and we saw many police and Shin Bet forces circulating. They reached the yeshiva head and talked to him and told him this incident happened at night. This was the first time we'd heard about it. After a few days they summoned 17 children for questioning.

"On Sunday, two weeks ago, there was a huge raid on the yeshiva and one of my friends was arrested, and one friend was arrested on the way to the yeshiva and another friend at home and they were taken to interrogations. They spent a week in the Shin Bet."

He did not think he would find himself in custody either. "On Saturday night I wanted to go out to the demonstration and when I left the house two people came and presented me with an arrest warrant and a ban on meeting with a lawyer. They took me without letting my parents get close to me."

The minor tells about his difficult interrogation conditions. "In the Shin Bet facility they took all my clothes and gave me their clothes so I wouldn't have anything of my own. They blindfolded me, handcuffed me to the chair, and sat me there for hours. Sometimes five interrogators sit in the room, yelling, spitting, and saying hard words."

He accuses them of persecution against him and his friends. "They're persecuting the hilltop youth, who are righteous who want to settle the Land of Israel and the Shin Bet simply pursues them without any explanation."

Attorney Adi Kedar of the Honenu organization adds: "We're happy the boys will soon return to the yeshiva and their families. We're sorry the youths were arrested for no reason and we demand a comprehensive investigation be conducted by the Shin Bet and Israel Police. How do four youths suspected of something unrelated to them find themselves in the cellars of the Shin Bet under shocking conditions that violate the rights and lives of minors? In the same breath, we're hoping the last suspect will be released as soon as possible."

"They handcuffed me to the chair for hours." - Interview (Hebrew)