In another act exhibiting the disregard for kedushas Shabbos, Israel Police on this Shabbos (yesterday) ousted Jews from their home.

On Friday night, during their seudas Shabbos, a family and a number of singles were ousted from their home by tens of police and border police. They explained the home, located in the Anata area of Yerushalayim is under Jewish ownership and they are present to prevent Arabs from uprooting olive trees as they have done in the past. They urged police to refrain from ousting them on Shabbos, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

The victims of the eviction report police did not have an eviction order, or at least did not show one, and they were ousted under the guise that their lives were in danger by remaining in the home in the predominately Arab area. It should be pointed out that the home is located within the boundaries of the Jerusalem municipality.

Leading the eviction force was Jerusalem Envelope Commander Nissim Edri [who happens to be a brother of Kadima minister, Yaakov Edri]. The evictees walked some two hours in difficult terrain in an effort to minimize the forced chilul Shabbos.

Aryeh King, who heads the Shar Mizrach non-profit working to renew the Jewish presence to the area, expressed outrage, explaining the home was purchased legally and they have the papers to prove it. He expressed disgust over the attitude of police, who evicted them and caused chilul Shabbos instead of protecting them, the rightful owners.

Jerusalem mayoral candidate Meir Porush filed a complaint with Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco and called for an urgent meeting of the Knesset House Committee to investigate the chilul Shabbos by Israel Police as well as the decision to oust residents who were legally occupying a home.

Amazingly, the project permitting the purchase of land in the area was sponsored by the Government of Israel, over 20 years ago, encouraging people to buy when the master plan called for extending the Jerusalem boundary towards a territorial contiguity to Maale Adumim. Harsh objections from the American Department of State have put the project on hold, placing the members of the Shar Mizrach organization out of favor with the current political agenda of the Kadima government and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Conspicuously missing was the outcry from the left-wing and the civil rights activists, who do not contest the Jewish ownership of the home, but prefer to see the Arab dominance of the area continue, opting to remain silent despite the obvious miscarriage of justice, violation of the Shabbos, and the trampling of basic civil and religious rights of citizens of the state.

King decries the actions of the government, pointing out that the same officials who evict legal owners choose to turn a blind eye to widespread illegal construction by Arabs within the municipal boundaries of Yerushalayim.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)