A case opened against a young woman who davened at the gates of Har Habayis last Tisha B’Av, was recently closed by the prosecutor. After the woman was released from custody, the police filed an application to file an indictment against her. However, attorney Moshe Polski of Honenu, who represented her in the case at a hearing before the prosecutor, thus preventing the indictment from being filed.

The girl and her friends were davening at Shar Kutna gate when policemen at the scene began to discuss their leaving the area. While the girls were chatting with the policemen and asking for a minute to daven, the police commander arrived, Nitzan Dunis. According to the young woman, he approached them on the grounds that they were interfering with the Muslim worshipers in going up to Har Habayis and asked them in a rude tone to leave immediately.

According to the young woman, Dunis pushed them hard and began to pull her hands. When her friend tried to come to her aid, he separated them. He handcuffed the young woman so hard that the handcuffs left marks on her hands. According to the girl, all she meant was to say a perek of Tehillim and continue to the Kosel, and the group of girls was already moving when Dunis arrived and began to push her without checking with the policemen present about what the discussion was about.

After a protracted argument involving the use of physical force, the policeman arrested the young woman on charges of violating the freedom to access a holy place, attacking a policeman while performing his duty, and obstructing a policeman in the course of his duty. The young woman added that they stood where she was allowed to stand and said, “I did not do anything I should regret.”

Despite this, Dunis claimed that the girls stood at the entrance to the checkpoint and insisted on continuing to daven there. He said he offered to permit them to daven on the side, but they objected. He warned that if they did not vacate the place he would have to evacuate them by force, and during the discussion the young girl pushed him. In response, the policeman began to push the girls and separated the girl from her friends. The policeman also claimed that in the separation attempt, the young woman stuck her nails in his hand until he was bleeding, which led him to arrest her for attacking a policeman.

Attorney Polski said, “I am happy that in this case the police prosecutor exercised proper discretion and ordered the file to be shelved, especially in view of the unreasonable nature of the policeman’s version. I would like to point out that many cases have been conducted in the various courts against many young people, high-quality youths without any criminal record, only because of the outrageous conduct of policemen who instead of contributing to maintaining order and ensuring the safety of worshipers and public peace, act inappropriately aggressive and cause unnecessary disturbances.

“I am glad that at least the prosecution branch has found a sympathetic ear and a proper understanding of the situation and a decision has been made on closing the case,” he added.

It should be noted that Gedolei Yisrael throughout the generations along with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, have prohibited visiting Har Habayis as there is an Issur Kares.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)