Yaakov Ben-Atar last week was sentenced to seven months in prison and a NIS 80,000 fine for operating the Kol Emet radio station together with his brother Rav Shmuel.
Rav Shmuel was sentenced to nine months in prison and a NIS 80,000 fine in the beginning of June by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court as was reported HERE by YWN in addition to a fine.
The court ruled the two place many people in life-threatening danger for interfering with airport traffic controllers at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Rishon L’Tzion Magistrate’s Court Justice Liora Brodi stated the defendant was flippant regarding the law, repeatedly betraying the trust placed in him, acting in a manipulative fashion in an attempt to hide his actions.
Some members of the frum community allege the court decided to come down hard on the two only because they represent the voice of Torah radio, insisting that many pirate stations have operated and continue to do so but no one has been so harshly punished for violating the law.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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18 Responses
Why hasn’t Arutz 7’s operator been jailed? They’re zionists?
And the Arab pirate stations? They don’t represent the Torah, so no problemo?
Arutz 7 does not have a tower. They broadcast only on the internet. The Israeli govt. shut them down even though they were broadcasting from Intl. waters. So yes they were after them as well. They didn’t have a “legal” right to jail the operators of Arutz 7 which is why they are free now.
Joseph
have you even been to Eretz Israel before?
why you commenting?
They could shut Arutz 7 down from broadcasting from international waters into Israel because its against Israeli law. They could’ve jailed them as much as they could jail the folks in the above story. The reason they CHOSE to treat them differntly is because who they each are, not what they did.
Its an old story.
they’re too afraid to shut down the arab stations – they’d riot and kill jews at the very mention of violating their freedom of expression – you can bet the liberals would be foaming at the mouth at the very thought of stifling them too – but when it comes to stifling the expression of those they disagree with, you can bet they dont make any noise. mullahs screaming about beheading jews? we have to allow it – but a frum yid giving divre torah without a license? unacceptable.
Y’know, people like the Ben-Atars would love to broadcast legally, and to have a legal broadcast license. But what can they do?! The anti-frum, discriminatory authorities refuse to give chareidim a license!!! Pretty much any chiloni can get one to broadcast his shtusim; but if they suspect you may be trying to spread words of Torah, heaven forbid, then suddenly your application is met with mysterious “complications”!
The govt claims that they don’t discriminate, but there just aren’t enough frequencies available for frum broadcasters. Anyone can give a guess how many radio stations are in the NYC area???
Don’t anyone claim there is freedom of speech in Israel!
yossiea/7 – You are incorrect. A country has jurisdiction over its citizens activities in international waters.
You’re point is proven incorrect by the mere fact that the authorities were successful in shutting down Arutz 7’s broadcasting from international waters. Otherwise they could not have done that.
When someone is in international waters they are not free from laws.
shalom/9, you are a friend to the Torah’s enemies. And you are off base. The zionist entity did NOT JAIL Arutz 7’s operators. Such harsh treatment is reserved for Bnei Torah.
shalom/11, you sound like a capo out of Berlin 1939. Do you (verbally or physically) beat Yidden for fun or money?
Teshuva is a tool that is always available to you regardless how far off the plantation you’ve gone. The fact that you are ashamed of your loshon hora is certainly a sign of a good start.
RebShalom, farvus tust du nit azoi vu dan numen? red b’shalom! Ich glein nit az du bist ah rabbi… efsher ah reform rabbi uber zicher nit ah chusid! du farsheimt ala ehrliche mentchen ven du redst azoi. der reform ochet huben ah “wider world view.”
glein=gleib
sammygol/16,
A consistent thread in your comments is subtle criticism of those who “wear long coats and fur hats” (as you put it) and other “heimish” folks. (For the record, not that it matters, I neither “wear a long coat” nor a “fur hat.”)
Yes, Dan Lkaf Zchus is all encompassing. It most certainly includes Mizrachists and even other zionists. (In fact if you look back a few days, you’ll see I defended, , Olmert on this basis.) It applies until and unless a valid beis din convicts someone. This is plain black and white halacha. I still do not grasp your strident opposition to the concept of dan lkav zchus, that your comments have consistently betrayed.
As far as the names, I recall you being guilty on that same charge on numerous occasions. For whatever defense its worth, above it was in response to the addressee’s “less than polite” (to be polite) comments (rants, Ayatollah, and fascist.)
No, I’ll rely on OU or Badatz for that.
RebShalom, nechten du hust gezugt az du bist ah “chosid” un a “rabbi”. mir veisen shoin as du bist ah ligener vegen ah rabbi (efsher reform uber nit ah yid). hant zeit men az du bist nit kein choid oich. Ah Yid redt yiddish. Bist du ah yid uder ah sheigetz?
shalom/20, I’m an English first (in the US) proponent bar none, but the fact of the matter is English is (unfortunately) NOT “the official language” in the US. In fact by law there is NO official language.
If secular society can tolerate Spanish, Korean, etc. in VOTING BOOTHS, I think we as Jews (assuming thats what you are, perhaps incorrectly) should tolerate other languages between our brethren. And when it comes to Yiddish specifically, which contains the kedusha of a thousand years of Torah learning conducted in Yiddish and has been the common tongue (unlike the contraption known as Ivrit, popularized by the anti-religious Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his zionistic cousins) amongst our nation (or its Ashkenazic side) for all those years — where a Yid from France could meet a Yid from Russia and converse like brothers, we should support and encourage it.
sammygol/23, This post is all about zionist authority. Read the story above. There is nothing “to turn into anti-Zionism.”
He didn’t merely ask to be spoken in English. He berated the person for daring to use a language other than HIS national language. He claims to be chassidish above, so presumably he understands Yiddish. (He hadn’t simply said he doesn’t understand the language.)
In any event, I’ll rest on my laurels recalling you admitted respecting me and my positions, in a post a couple of weeks ago.
Until next time the grudging admission comes to light, that is. I’ll take the preceding as sour grapes. Nothing above is anything new. The respects offered were long in coming and grudging in execution. They came when under serious fire from other quarters, and refuge was sought in whatever comfort could be found.
P.S. They must’ve wilted in the same manner as your previously stated commitment to decline to respond to my comments addressed to you! 🙂