As the scheduled disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank draws near, it seems even the most honorable state establishments are showing signs of exaggerated edginess: Courthouse security guards confiscated a right-wing activist's orange ribbon in exchange for a slip that said he had deposited a firearm at the security desk.
Two right-wing activists arrived at the Rishon Lezion Magistrates
Court to attend the reading of an indictment that was filed against them regarding illegal assembly, resisting arrest and interfering with police work during a demonstration in Bat Yam last month.
One of the activists, Avraham Hakuk, arrived at the courtroom carrying a backpack with an orange ribbon symbolizing the anti-pullout resistance strapped to it.
According to Hakuk, the security guards at the court's entrance decided to confiscate the ribbon and present Hakuk with a slip that said he had deposited a firearm at the security desk.
When Hakuk later returned with the slip to claim his ribbon, a different security guard who had just started his shift was sitting at the security desk.
The guard had no idea what to do with the slip, Hakuk said.
"He asked me if I was putting him on," he said. "Then he tore up the slip. It's lucky I photo-copied the slip, or else I wouldn't have any proof of the incident."
A Judicial Authority spokeswoman said there is no instruction to confiscate orange ribbons at the courts' entrances.
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