Posted on 06/15/2006 12:23:46 PM PDT by Esther Ruth
Nadia Matar ‘Insult Trial’ Begins 19:19 Jun 15, '06 / 19 Sivan 5766 by Hana Levi Julian
Women in Green activist Nadia Matar went on trial yesterday in what is expected to become a challenge to define the limitations on the right to freedom of speech in Israeli society.
Matar is charged with insulting Disengagement Authority chief Yonatan Bassi after she likened his role in the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif to that of the ”Judenrat” in Nazi Germany.
The Judenrat is a German term for the local Jewish council formed in each of the ghettos by the Nazis during World War II to carry out the Third Reich’s directives, such as providing forced labor teams for German war factories and eventually delivering Jews to the trains bound for the death camps.
To view the entire INN TV coverage, click here.)
Matar is charged with violating a law that prohibits Israeli citizens from insulting public officials, a move that her lawyer, Yoram Sheftel, said was indicative of the double standard applied to the right and left political spectrums in Israel.
“Just this week the daughter of the Prime Minister, which [sic] is an extreme leftist activist, accused the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army of being ‘a murderer’, which is exactly the same offense,” he said. “I can bet my life,” he added,”that not only will the daughter of Olmert not be charged as Nadia Matar – she will not even be investigated.”
Matar herself seemed content with the way things had gone in the first day of the proceedings. “It will, of course, wake up the people to the fact that this country today is a totalitarian dictatorship,” she said. “The day will come when we will have a Jewish democracy,” she assured a crowd of supporters. “The most important thing is to have a Jewish state in the Land of Israel – in all of the Land of Israel,” she emphasized.
Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor Yisrael Aumann spoke to the protestors, saying that although he did not like Nadia's language in her letter to Yonatan Bassi, democracy and freedom of speech should allow expression which is not always complimentary.
"It is scandalous. Freedom of speech is oppressed… just like in the cases of the soldier Hananel Dayan… and Rabbi Druckman. This is singling out individuals who express their views," said Professor Aumann. Rabbi Druckman, who expressed strong opposition to the expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif, was subjected to an official hearing on his remarks.
Professor Aumann added that he fears that Israel is becoming a Bolshevik state.
The demonstrators were not as serene, however. “You have to remember that Nadia Matar fought for the people of Gush Katif and she reminded Yonatan Bassi that his work with the government was tantamount to a betrayal of the people of Israel,” Rachel Saperstein told Arutz-7 reporter Mark Kaplan.
“If Matar is denied the right to speak her mind, and people are prevented from hearing her, then democracy has left this country,” said Saperstein. “It is a terrible shame for Israel today.”
The case is scheduled to resume in September.
Published: 18:34 June 15, 2006 Last Update: 19:19 June 15, 2006
From February
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1574830/posts
Nadia Matar to be Charged With Insulting a Public Servant
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=98211 ^
22:56 Feb 08, '06 / 10 Shevat 5766
I don't see how on earth the authorities think they can win by bringing this case to trial. If she is convicted, there will be widespread revulsion. If she is exonerated, it will reveal their weakness.
She is forcing their hand, isn't she? They will not take kindly to that probably - oh well.
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