Michael Schlissel: 'Yishai never wanted violence'
In an interview with Ynet, Michael Schlissel, who was arrested on suspicion of planning to attack participants of the Pride Parade in Jerusalem, condemned his brother Yishai's acts of violence; Says arrests brought about suffering to him and his family: 'They suffered through no fault of their own.'
“I am against violence and the actions of my brother. I told him that during a conversation with him,” said Michael.
The two brothers were arrested last week ahead of the parade on suspicion that they planned that Michael would carry out a similar attack during this year’s parade which took place in the capital on Thursday.
Michael was released on Friday to house arrest which officially expired on Sunday. However, the Jerusalem police stated that the investigation against him is ongoing.
Despite the investigation and his arrest, Michael maintained that he is completely innocent and never had any intention of attack participants of the march. “Yishai called me on Friday. He said that he thinks that the Gay parade is a serious desecration of God’s name, and he called us to participate in the prayer service that was taking place in Jerusalem as an answer to this desecration. I asked him, ‘Do you want me to use violence?’ to which he said ‘just come to the prayers. No violence.’”
Michael added, “I told him that I was against it and that I didn’t see it as a ‘desecration of God’s name.’ I don’t know what got into his head about this particular issue. I am against violence. It doesn’t solve problems but only exacerbates them. We have to follow the path of explaining things. That is how the conversation went. I presented him with these thoughts and said to him, ‘You understand I am your nemesis (biblical reference-ed.) on this issue.’ At this point the police came into the picture. They asked me what this word means. It seemed that they didn’t understand.”
Recalling the police investigation Michael said that they were particularly hung up on the word.: “They wanted me to recount the conversation. I did so in a transcript as I have presented here. The investigator focused on this word ‘nemesis’ so I explained to him that it was a very simple reference in Aramaic - two people who disagree about (all aspects of a matter). You say permissible, I say forbidden,” he clarified.
On the act which landed his brother in jail, Michael said: “the Chazon Ish (Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, a famous leader in the Israeli ultra-Orthodox community in the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s. -ed), may he rest in peace, said that violence in our time is only harmful and does not contribute anything positive.”
He also offered his condolences to Shira Banki’s family for their tragic loss: “I can say to the Banki family that I am certainly against the act. It is a great shame that what happened, happened. I am so sorry that it happened and that she lost her life.”
Michael went on to describe the pain which his arrest has brought to his entire family: “The feeling was extremely difficult. The treatment that I received from the prison guards in the cell was not nice. Also there was an injustice to my family. I, nor my brothers, (except Yishai) have ever given any impression that we were any more zealous than anyone else. My brothers suffered through no fault of their own.”
In addition to Michael’s and Yishai’s arrest, their mother was also detained for investigation while their four brothers were ordered to leave Jerusalem during the march’s procession.
On Thursday during a hearing on extending Michael’s remand, Eliezer Schlissel, the brothers’ father expressed deep remorse for the murder of Shira Banki: “I wanted to hug (Shira Banki’s) father. He didn’t want to meet with me. I sent a few representatives and he said it was difficult for him. That was last year. I fully sympathize with the pain.”
The police said that Yishai was suspected of having asked his brother to commit a similar attack during the parade and was therefore taken from his prison cell to be investigated in Jerusalem which lasted 3 days. On Sunday morning he returned to jail and the police have stated that there is sufficient evidence to put him on trial.
His lawyer, Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the decision to arrest Michael arguing that the police did so merely in order to compensate for their failings of the previous year: “The police understand today that Michael is innocent but it is a shame that it took them three days to understand this. The investigators didn’t understand that the term ‘nemesis’ (recorded in the conversation) was michael disagreeing with his brother which, in my opinion, justifies enlisting Haredi investigators in the police."
