Even if only one percent of this story is true, the government should fall and all the commanders responsible for this horror should go to jail.
You won’t be hearing today about the barbarous act apparently perpetrated by Border Police criminals upon a young mother who was forcefully separated from her small children. It won’t be on the Yael Dayan show; Keren Noibach will not be talking about it on her radio spot; and it won’t be brought up by any other broadcaster or women demonstrating today against violence and sexual harassment.
Why? Because the woman who, according to her testimony, was stripped and forced to remain in front of laughing criminals in uniform who took “souvenir photos” of her, has no human rights in Israel. Only after the bulldozer completed the destruction of her home at the Geulat Tzion hilltop and only after the last entertained male had left the area was this poor woman allowed to clothe herself.
Of course, the Border Police spokesman categorically denies the entire accusation, claiming that the entire home destruction was photographed and documented. The credibility of the Border Police spokesman is similar to that of the IDF spokesman (in other words, you are better off listening to the Hamas or Hezbollah spokesman).
As is the nature of liars, the Border Police spokesman is attempting to deflect the accusations by focusing on racist epithets the woman apparently shouted at the Border Police. (She may have, but so what? Does that justify stripping her in public?)
I listened again and again to the testimony this poor woman gave to Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir and media personality Sharon Gal (whom I salute). I also had a long conversation with her husband. Last week, I sent a letter to Border Police Chief Yaakov Shabtai informing him that as long as I don’t see the Border Police documentation in his hands – real documentation, uncensored and uncut, documentation in which the victim is in the frame for the entire length of the event – I will continue to believe her version.
Don’t hold your breath. The Border Police will never release the documentation without censoring and editing it first. Because, to our horror, it appears that the settler is telling the truth. I believe this woman because I have already seen this despicable conduct in the past.
An orphaned sector of the public has lost its human rights. No law protects it. The political parents of the hilltop settlers are, of course, Bennett and Shaked. But they are part of the establishment Religious Zionists, who turn their backs on them. Obviously, the media and state prosecution will not help them. And so the lives of the settlers and their honor are worthless.
A radical Arab will always get the backing of Ahmad Tibi. And Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg will never condemn a radical leftist or a Sudanese immigrant. Why? Because these politicians are not starving for legitimacy. The Jewish Home, however, is.
That is why the hilltop youth are thrown out of their natural camp, losing their basic human rights and turning into easy targets for the animalistic behavior that bursts forth in extreme situations.
It is fine to torture them (even teenage settlers) for no reason – Bennett and Shaked even encouraged it. It is fine to harass their wives and humiliate them, as no organized force would dare do to Arabs or African immigrants.
I understand the situation. I see how it develops from all directions. And I have a bit of life experience on this issue and, so, I believe the woman.
Just to remind you: The Public Security Minister is Gilad Erdan – Likud. The Defense Minister is Binyamin Netanyahu – Likud. The Deputy Defense Minister is Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan – Jewish Home. And the Justice Minister is Ayelet Shaked – Jewish Home.