Last week, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court held an in-depth discussion – two years after the event –– late, on the seriousness of the offense committed by Temple Mount activist Tom Nissany on Hanukkah 5783 (Dec. 2022). The police indicted Nissany on “entering the checkpoint with sufganiyot,” and “after being asked to get rid of them, staying and arguing with the police. Later, he tried to pass through with stickers and a sign that were forbidden to bring into the Temple Mount.”
The indictment included no fewer than 27 prosecution witnesses.
Nissany and another activist, former Likud MK Yehuda Glick, were also accused of not moving “at the pace of the accompanying policeman and in a unified group during the tour of the compound. They stopped at every moment to take pictures, despite the warnings of the policeman who accompanied the group.”
Glick was also accused of “breaking away from the group, wandering around in the nearby grove, and even trying to climb the Dome of the Rock.” Also, “after the policemen ordered him to return to the group’s route, Glick told them: ‘I pay you a salary, I am your boss.'”
Glick and Emmanuel Brosh were accused of sitting down at the entrance to the mountain and blocking it, in protest at being prevented from entering the compound.
The defense attorneys protested having to appear in court to justify acts that could not be classified as crimes.
“It’s not so clear how this is a crime,” said attorney Eitan Lehman, who represents Nissani. “We don’t think that breaking away from the group is a crime. Photographing the place is not a crime. We will submit a request to see the rules, and on what they are based.”
The lawyers submitted to the court a video of the “blocking incident,” which clearly showed the entrance to the mountain was not blocked by Nissani and Brosh, and their sitting there did not disturb anyone.
They also argue selective enforcement, because “in much more obvious cases of roadblocks” in the past two years – by left-wing activists protesting against Knesset legislations, for example – the police looked on with indifference and did not bother to prosecute anyone.”
Attorney Lehman also addressed the sufganiyot affair, suggesting it was “the funniest accusation. Is distributing donuts to people a crime? Many people brought sufganiyot on Hanukkah two years ago and distributed them to the police and ascenders to the Temple Mount throughout that morning. Of course, in the trial, we will question the police officers who decided that the defendant could not distribute sufganiyot. It’s true that he argued with the officers because he wanted to distribute sufganiyot, but arguing with police officers is not a crime.”
As to the charge of not keeping pace with the accompanying officer, Attorney Yitzhak Bem, representing Glick, argued “The defendant is charged with not walking at a pace that satisfied the police on the Temple Mount that day. He is disabled, a victim of hostilities following an assassination attempt on his life, and has lost more than half a lung. I’d like to see these policemen trying to run without half a lung.”
On October 29, 2014, Yehudah Glick delivered a speech at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. According to an eyewitness, a man on a motorcycle with a “thick Arab accent” approached Glick as he was loading equipment into his car after the conference. The man confirmed Glick’s identity before shooting him four times in the chest and fleeing the scene on his motorcycle.
Despite sustaining serious injuries, Glick survived the assassination attempt and was rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment. Later, Glick recounted that the assailant had apologized before opening fire, saying, “I’m very sorry, but you’re an enemy of Al-Aqsa. I have to.”
Judge Anat Greenbaum-Shimon asked the police to rethink the charges and postponed the next hearing so that she could “have a talk with the prosecution,” in the hope that she would succeed in getting the police down from the treetop.
The police representatives at the hearing refused to take the hint, and so another hearing in the crucial case of smuggled sufganiyot was scheduled for early February.
Sufganiyot-Gate is far from over.
Incidentally, during the court hearing on December 23, 2022, following the arrest of Tom Nissani, police representative Anan Zaida claimed that “there is a rule prohibiting the bringing of doughnuts into the Temple Mount in order to prevent provocations.”
The Beyadenu movement pointed out that while police were bravely fighting illegal sufganiyot, a huge Hamas banner praising terrorists was unfurled on the Temple Mount:
1 comment:
Sounds like one of our capers. I didn't realize how serious the Dati Leumi are about their essen.
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