Ibtin mosque
Photo: Courtesy of pls48.net
David Weinberg
Photo: Avishag Shaar Yeshuv
Yosef Matot
Photo: Avishag Shaar Yeshuv
Hanani Lieberson
Photo: Avishag Shear Yeshuv
Parents: Police trying to 'break' suspected mosque vandals
Letter sent to MKs says yeshiva students being held without evidence 'to please Arab public'
The families of four detainees arrested last week on suspicion they sprayed malicious graffiti on a mosque in Ibtin have begun a battle to clear their names.
The families appealed to Knesset members on Tuesday and claimed that the continued holding of the four without sufficient evidence was aimed at pleasing the Arab public. However the Haifa District Court denied the suspects' appeals and ruled that they would remain in custody until Friday.
Detention
Remand extended of four yeshiva students suspected of vandalizing mosque
Intelligence received by police that night incriminated four young men, all 18 years of age: Ahiya Shor, Hanani Lieberson, and Yosef Matot are students at the Hasidim village yeshiva. The fourth, David Weinberg, is a student at a yeshiva in Ramat Hasharon. All suspects deny the allegations.
Picture of vandalized mosque (Photo: Courtesy of pls48.net)
The parents of the four wrote in a letter sent to MKs that the police have no evidence linking their children to the crime. "Neither a police line-up nor fingerprints, or even a photo," they wrote.
"Together with our reservations, there is no proof at all that the deed was committed by our children or any other boy at the yeshiva. The long detention, which exceeds all proportion when referring to graffiti, is intended to break the boys and get them to confess to something they didn't do," the parents added.
"The long interrogations, in the company of criminals and minority-group members, are aimed at breaking them and de-legitimizing the public to which they belong."
The parents claim that the treatment of their sons points to "an agenda of officials in the court system, who want to please the Arab population and hurt the ethical Jewish religious public".
The young men's teachers have also joined the battle for their release. Rabbi Shneur Katz, who heads the yeshiva at which three of them study, told Ynet he had not wanted to get involved at first because he thought they would be let go immediately.
"Now, after they have been held for a week without a shred of evidence, I understand that from investigating the truth (the police) have turned to conducting a witch hunt at the students' expense," he said.
In his decision to reject their appeal, Judge Kamal Saab told the police the case required a lot more investigation. Off the record he added that officers had gathered some evidence against the suspects.
