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"Small Price to Pay" Says Amona IDF Refuser Handed Jail Time 02:34 Feb 19, '06 / 21 Shevat 5766 By Ezra HaLevi IDF soldier Noam Rabinovich, driver of the Shaked unit's Deputy Battalion Commander, was sentenced to 21 days in a military prison Friday for refusing to take part in the Amona destruction. Twenty-one days in prison is the maximum sentence the unit's Battalion Commander was able to hand down for Rabinovich's refusal. Noam's relatives told Arutz-7 that he accepted the verdict "with joy." Rabinovich asked his family to pass on the following message: "[Twenty-one days in IDF prison] is...

Meir Shitrit on School Visit Says Amona Residents are Evil 13:41 Feb 13, '06 / 15 Shevat 5766 (IsraelNN.com) Education and Transportation Minister Meir Shitrit (Kadima, formerly of Likud), told students on a visit to a school in Bet El yesterday that the residents of Amona and their supporters were evil. Shitrit responded to a girl who read him a letter relating to the events at Amona. The girl asserted that “G-d punishes evil doers.” Shitrit interrupted the girl and exclaimed angrily, “whom exactly are you referring to by the word ‘evil’?” “Who settled illegally in Amona? Who’s evil?” continued...

Unrest Over Amona Continues 17:15 Feb 12, '06 / 14 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel Close to 2,000 educators demand an official inquiry into the police violence and sexual harassment against youths at Amona. A less powerful Knesset parliamentary inquiry has already been approved. "Our Children's Blood is not Up For Grabs," the protestors will cry out this Tuesday. This, in light of the many serious head and other injuries inflicted by the security forces upon the youths who came to protest the demolition of houses in Amona. The several incidents of sexual harassment of high school girls will also...

The desecration of emunah at Amona By Joshua S. Hecht February 9, 2006 At the Friday eve Shabbat service this past February 3rd I had the pleasure and honor to call upon four post bar mitzvah teens, children of Beth Israel families attending the Bi-cultural Day School in Stamford. The eighth grade at Bi-cultural conducts an annual month-long 8th grade class trip to Israel; where the students get to experience first-hand their appreciation of Israel and the Jewish people.... I asked these young men that they stand before the congregation as I charge them with the mission of taking along...

Why are Jewish groups suppressing news of Israeli government brutality? By Buddy Macy February 10, 2006 This evening, I received the E-ALERT from the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, dated 2/9/06. Included in that edition of the online publication are articles about a highly offensive, anti-Semitic speech, Iran and its nuclear activities, the reaction to the Danish cartoons, Palestinian terrorists, the Church of England's partial divestiture from Israel, and more. What was not included in that publication, was news about the Knesset's vote to establish a commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality at Amona. Nor was there...

Yaakov Tessler, 17, wrote to the IDF Central Commander, asking why he was cruelly beaten in Amona, nearly losing an eye, even though he posed no threat and was merely registering his protest. The entire letter by 17-year-old Yaakov Tessler of Jerusalem: Dear Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh, Peace and blessing. I feel an obligation to turn to you, as one who is entrusted with the values of the army and the rule of law on the one hand, and with Jewish values and the Torah's commandments, on the other. I would like to address the events that occurred during...

Knesset Establishes Commission to Investigate Amona Violence 19:04 Feb 08, '06 / 10 Shevat 5766 By Ezra HaLevi The Knesset voted Wednesday to establish a commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality at Amona last week. The commission was established despite the objection of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima Party, as well as the Labor Party, who dropped their initial call for an investigation after advisors said it would harm them in the polls. Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz, speaking prior to the vote, said that he sees no reason to establish a committee of investigation into the events at...

Incidents of Police Violence and Abuse Continue to Surface 17:00 Feb 06, '06 / 8 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel Ezra refused to entertain the idea of a public inquiry, saying that the Cabinet had decided against it. "Individual complaints will be investigated," however, he said. "The police force is not a punching bag. It was sent to carry out a difficult mission, and will fulfill every mission it is charged to do." Yesha senior figures said afterwards that the refusal to establish the commission indicates that there is something to hide. In any event, MK Sha'ul Yahalom is preparing...

Tens of thousands of right-wing activists thronged the streets of downtown Jerusalem on Sunday evening to protest what they deemed to be excessive use of force by police during the evacuation and demolition of the Amona outpost on Wednesday last week. The rally was being held under the slogan "[Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert is bad for the Jews." Settler leaders called for thousands to protest the police actions at Amona, where some 215 people were injured. The predominantly religious crowd of protestors, including a majority of teens, called on the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into...

Labor party's Yuli Tamir: inconceivable that hundreds hurt in Amona while virtually no one was hurt in Gaza pullout Labor MK Yuli Tamir on Thursday added her voice to calls by Knesset members that a committee be set up to investigate the violent clashes during the evacuation of the Amona outpost on Wednesday. Tamir said the committee should investigate the circumstances that led to the injury of over 200 settlers and security forces. The Labor MK said: “Yesterday’s events and their difficult consequences prove Ehud Olmert’s incapability and helplessness in filling the prime minister’s post. It is inconceivable that in...

Hundreds injured as settlers and expulsion forces clash violently in Amona By Israel Insider staff and partners February 1, 2006 Unprecedented violence broke out between Israeli forces and mostly young settlers protesting the order to destroy nine homes in the unauthorized outpost of Amona, next to the town of Ofra, north of Jerusalem. The violent confrontation occurred after Israel's high court rejected a last minute request to delay the destruction. Thousands of young people are barricaded on the rooftops and around the homes. Knesset Member Effie Eitam sustained head wounds after being hit in the head as forces stormed the...

Homes Destroyed in Amona; Home-Owner and Others Speak 14:42 Feb 01, '06 / 3 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel Only one of the nine Amona buildings still stands. Tales of brutal and unprovoked police violence are beginning to surface. Over 100 wounded were evacuated to Jerusalem hospitals, including one policeman and one protestor in serious condition. About five are listed in moderate condition. Close to 300 other protestors were treated in a giant tent set up for the purpose near the site of the destruction. One injured protestor said, "We were standing in the front line, with no intention of...

Yassam Riot Police Enter Amona With Clubs, Horses - Shots Reportedly Fired 05:08 Feb 01, '06 / 3 Shevat 5766 (IsraelNN.com) Despite the temporary injunction preventing the destruction of nine homes in Amona until 8 AM, Yassam riot police entered Amona a little before 5 AM and began violently beating protestors with clubs, according to reports from the scene. One girl was injured by a police horse and protestors report hearing gunshots being fired into the air.

Ten Thousand Already In Amona 00:15 Jan 31, '06 / 2 Shevat 5766 By Baruch Gordon Following reports that the IDF will close down access routes to Amona on Tuesday morning, thousands of youth and activists began making their way to the town today. The phenomenon intensified this evening with hundreds of youth seen at any given time lining the roads from Jerusalem to Ofra/Amona waiting to hitch rides. The town of Ofra, adjacent to Amona, has turned its many educational institutions and public buildings into dining and sleeping facilities for the estimated ten thousand youth who have already arrived...

Last update - 13:59 27/01/2006 High Court issues order banning Amona outpost demolitions By Nadav Shragai and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents and Itim High Court Justice Salim Jubran on Friday issued an interim order banning the demolition of buildings in the illegal outpost of Amona until another decision is given on the matter. Justice Jubran ruled that a panel of three justices would attend a hearing on the Amona outpost on Sunday. Right-wing officials expressed rage at the state's statement submitted to the High Court, according to which settlers fortified the buildings in Amona in order to prevent the Israel...

Yesha Council Seals Amona Homes Unilaterally 13:40 Jan 25, '06 / 25 Tevet 5766 By Hillel Fendel Teams from the Binyamin Regional Council sealed the nine contested homes in the Amona neighborhood last night, and made another request of Defense Minister Mofaz to delay their planned destruction. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday that the IDF would destroy the Amona homes next week. As a result of a lawsuit initiated by Peace Now, claiming that the homes were built on privately-owned Arab land, the court issued the buildings razed....

IDF Chief-of-Staff Says Amona Will be Destroyed Next Week 17:13 Jan 24, '06 / 24 Tevet 5766 By Scott Shiloh IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday that the IDF will destroy the Jewish community of Amona next week. Halutz did not set a date for expelling the Jewish residents living in the Hevron market, though that action is expected to take place by February 15. Amona, a small village overlooking and east of Ofrah, 15 miles north of Jerusalem, was ordered destroyed by Israel’s High Court of Justice by the end...