The Menomadin Foundation held its inaugural event recently, at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, with a gala reception. Summarizing the dramatic impact the Foundation was having on communities across Africa, Haim Taib, Founder and President of the Group, stressed, “The work of the Foundation is having a lasting impact on peoples across the African continent, and it is also contributing dramatically to the partnership and collaborations between Israelis and Africans.”
Jews of all stripes and wherever they live, when they learn about Israeli surgeons saving thousands of lives in deepest Africa; does it not bring with it Jewish pride?
When you learn that the government of Israel sent a rescue team to an earthquake or a building collapse in order to save lives; do you walk a little taller?
The treatment of human beings with untarnished charity, justice and even-handedness, is surely a worthwhile objective for the Jewish State of Israel, no matter their religion, ethnic group or social standing.
After reading this article, however, you may never feel the same way about the Israeli government’s attempt at shining its light to the nations.
To the widows, orphans and family members who have experienced the other side of this coin, it is painful.
On the one hand the army’s rules of engagement which reach morally higher than any other army in the world are killing young IDF soldiers.
On the other hand seven year old Malchut Ben Uliel has not had her father nearby for seven years as he represents the scapegoat, the “Jewish Terrorist”.
The government’s behaviour seems to see Arab civilian lives as more precious than Jewish lives and furthermore they wish to believe and convince us as well, that as surely as there are Arab terrorists there must also be Jewish terrorists. With their enormous power, and with the use of barbaric torture, a self incriminating confession can be coerced. It also seems obvious, that some of Israel’s judges will agree to anything the Shabak says, because they do not differentiate between the lifesaving anti-terror sections of the Shabak and its Jewish section.
Even those unacquainted with the Torah know the phrase “Zedek, zedek tirdof”, which translates to “Justice, Justice shall you pursue”. The explanation by our sages is also widely known, that the double use of the word Zedek is a warning: Justice is a mitzvah and an ideal, however it cannot be dispensed using evil means.
For this reason Divine Jewish Law has many principles that must be observed by judges to prevent the slightest corruption. For example, no less than two witnesses must have observed a crime. The testimony they present may not be contradictory, for if so the testimony is worthless and rejected. Moreover, testimony that is self-incriminating will not be accepted by a court, otherwise, by inflicting sufficient pain, anyone can be made to incriminate themselves, and thereby protect the guilty from being held accountable.
Most people do not understand this painful point as they have never been tortured. The Innocence Project in the USA has acquitted hundred of black men who were forced to confess to murder by the use of psychological and physical torture arising from prejudice, hate or the pressure of public outrage. Why the silence of the Innocence Project in Israel these past seven years?
We all know the expressions ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ and ‘innocent until proven guilty’. We presume that every judge knows these rules. But in this case, the concern for being a light unto the nations is causing leaders and judges to ignore the safeguards built into both the halakha as well as the secular justice system.
These principles of justice have been rewritten. The objective now seems to be how to achieve an advantage over a political rival; justice be damned.
In order to demonstrate to the world that we in Israel care about Jews and Arabs equally we will even allow the sacrifice of our own people to prove it. If the accused wears an army uniform, or better still, a large knitted yahrmulka and bushy peayot, it proves beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused is guilty.
Israel is fast approaching a standard of judicial practice that will be impossible to reverse. It has become entrenched. Where are the judges that still respect the rule that Justice must be blind? Why are they silent?
The cruel torture of Amiram Ben Uliel, forcing him to incriminate himself, is one outrageous incident that can undo all the positive good the state chooses to pride itself on. Like the infamous Dreyfus case which inspired Theodore Herzl to envision a Jewish State —- where a Jew might find Justice without prejudice or corruption —- the Duma Firebombing affair might easily become a continuing blot of shame on the State of Israel.
The judges should be at the forefront to stop the slide to injustice..
Where are they? Is anyone still home?
I commend the Israeli Government’s honorable acts of kindness and vigorously condemn their acts of cruelty and injustice. Justice and Charity must always go hand in hand.
Amiram Ben Uliel’s case is meant to demonstrate to the world that we treat Jew and Arab equally, but it required far too many crimes and misdemeanours on the part of the authorities, to convict him. This corruption of justice will probably continue until Ben Uliel’s brothers and sisters, the Jewish people, do something about it. Keep in mind that next time it could be your loved one that is tortured for the benefit of the state.
If you do nothing else to counter the erosion of justice, please sign the petition at “Justice for Amiram”.
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