Haredim at entrance to prison
Photo: Ohad Zoigenberg
Court rejects appeal to release Emmanuel fathers before Shabbat
Mediation agreement between parents from Emmanuel and Noar K'Halacha organization asks High Court to release fathers of schoolchildren before Shabbat and suspend rest of prison sentence. Prosecution disagrees: Prison orders not dependent on anything but abiding court ruling
Mediation efforts in the Emmanuel school segregation case are bearing their first fruits. The Noar K'Halacha organization and the parents of students studying in the Hassidic track of the Beit Yaakov school in Emmanuel asked the High Court on Friday to release the fathers from jail before Shabbat and to suspend their prison sentence for two months.
The State Prosecution expressed its opposition to the proposal, and Justice Edmond Levy ruled that a hearing on the request to suspend the fathers' sentence will be held Sunday.
In their request to the court, the sides seek to negotiate an agreement to the conflict until five days before the start of the next school year, when the High Court will decide, in accordance with the results, whether to return the fathers to prison and whether to send the mothers to prison as well.
Haredim protesting outside the prison (Photo: Dudu Azulay)
"For the sake of peace, brotherhood, and friendship, the court is asked to approve the proposition," wrote Noar K'Halacha lawyer, Dr. Aviad Hacohen, and the parents' lawyer, Attorney Mordechai Green, in the agreed upon request. "The objective is to settle the disagreement outside the court's walls so there is agreement and force to the decision."
With the help of Arieh Deri, Attorney Ram Caspi, and others, the sides appointed two mediators: Rabbi David Yosef, who is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's son, and Rabbi Yaakov Cohen, a haredi religious judge considered an expert in conflict resolution.
The State Prosecution is opposed to the request for the immediate release of the fathers of the Emmanuel school children in the segregation affair.
The Prosecution wrote in a statement issued to the court by Attorney Shosh Shmueli in response to the parents' request to settle the case peacefully that though it welcomes any attempt at mediation that will lead to abiding the court ruling against segregation, the Prosecution's position is that the imprisonment orders are no dependent on anything other than honoring the court's ruling.
Aviad Glickman contributed to this report
