Lehava activists who were arrested this morning on the grounds that they are suspected of committing a crime were released at the police station without bringing them to court.

The chairman of the organization, Bentzi Gupstein, was not among those released as he will be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for a hearing on his case.

Attorney Itamar Ben-Givir says that “it is clear that Gupstein was brought to the hearing for show purpose and that the police will have a response for the High Court of Justice.”

According to him, Ben-Givir, there is no logic to the release of the activists at the station and to bring him to the hearing when all were arrested on suspicion of the same offense, and this figure shows more than anything else the considerations of the Israel Police.”

In the course of the night (Sunday), IDF forces immediately handed over a number of houses to Lehava activists, including the head of the organization, Bentzi Gupstein, and they were taken to a police station.

According to Itamar Ben Givir, Gupstein’s lawyer, the arrest came as a result of pressure from the left: In two weeks the police are supposed to give their response to a Reform petition that puts pressure on Gupstein and Lahav to stand trial. He accuses police of making the arrests to placate the extremist left-wing and the activists find themselves in an ostentatious detention that does not even result in bothering to summon them for interrogation.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)