Attorney Menashe Yado from the Honenu organization filed a lawsuit for 30,000 shekels in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on behalf of the head of Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai, Rabbi Yossi Elitzur, against the head of the Jewish Department, the ISA, and the Israel Police.
The lawsuit was filed after the publication of recordings of the head of the Jewish Department during one of his conversations with Deputy Commander Moalem of the Judea and Samaria policewhere he pressured him to arrest Rabbi Elitzur, even though Deputy Moalem clarified that according to legal counsel, Rabbi Elitzur did not commit any offense.
Attorney Yado describes how Rabbi Elitzur was summoned to the Ariel police station under the pretext of clarifying a police matter. ISA agents entered the interrogation room and began to threaten him to cease activities against Arabs: "On March 18, 2024, the plaintiff arrived at the Ariel police station, where the plaintiff's fingerprints, DNA sample, and photo were taken for the 'police album.' At the same time, the plaintiff was interrogated over allegations regarding a series of events he had no connection to, and no evidence was presented linking him to any illegal act. At the end of the interrogation, the plaintiff requested to leave, but then three ISA agents, who had been waiting in the hallway, entered the interrogation room, one of them masked. The masked person, who served as a kind of security guard, blocked the exit door and did not allow the plaintiff to leave the room."
"The ISA agent known as Orel threatened the plaintiff, and when the plaintiff demanded to leave or speak with a lawyer, he was ignored. Orel made threatening statements that 'usually we do not interfere in educational institutions, but if this continues, we will do so,' and said 'you don't want the yeshiva to be caught again.' The plaintiff, for his part, did not respond but only later told Orel that he is a coercive and violent person and that it was unfortunate that he behaves this way," described the attorney.
He emphasized that the conduct of the ISA agents stemmed directly from the instructuons of the head of the Jewish Department: "This is a series of events that lasted about a month, during which the ISA applied, either directly or through the police, improper, illegal, and incessant pressure on the plaintiff in order for him to waive his right to refuse an ISA meeting. When the plaintiff did not yield, he was brought to the station on a false pretense for a sham investigation during which he was humiliated as he was filmed and required to provide DNA samples and fingerprints, and at the end, he was forcibly compelled to remain in the room with three ISA agents, hearing threats about his freedom and the closure of the yeshiva he manages. It has now been proven that this conduct originates with the head of the [ISA] Jewish Department, who pressured agents to act against the plaintiff despite the police opinion indicating that the plaintiff did not commit an offense, a legal opinion that undermines any legal basis for taking action against the plaintiff."