Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 16:54 Amiram Ben Uliel will participate in the Passover Seder with other prisoners in the wing dedicated to orthodox prisoners (the "Torani" wing) in Ayalon Prison. Honenu issued a statement welcoming the announcement: "We are pleased with the decision to ease, however slightly, the unreasonable conditions under which Amiram is incarcerated. The decision follows determined efforts by many concerned citizens who tirelessly worked on the "Justice for Amiram!" campaign. Complete justice will come only after Amiram is released to his home, G-d willing, soon."
Among the efforts by concerned citizens was a campaign petitioning the Prison Service to allow Amiram Ben Uliel out of solitary confinement in his cell to celebrate Passover with the rest of the prisoners. Dozens of rabbis signed the petition. Activists from "Justice for Amiram!" launched a campaign to hold a Passover Seder outside of Eshel Prison in Be'er Sheva where he has been incarcerated under near solitary conditions for more than seven years.
Activists distributed fliers under the banner "Justice for Amiram!" declaring, "Amiram's in prison? So am I. Extracting confessions by torture is by Mafia style, not by fair trial!” The activists cited increasing interest by individuals and families in joining the Seder outside of the prison.
In a post on his Facebook page, Elon Moreh resident Tzvika Dror described why he decided to participate in the Seder: "We all want to forget the ugly fact that here, in the State of Israel, an unfortunate Jew is being cruelly abused. I cannot stand the situation any longer, and therefore I plan to hold the upcoming Seder in the desert, outside of the walls of the prison in Be'er Sheva. As long as Amiram is imprisoned in solitary confinement without any of the basic rights that even the most contemptible terrorists receive, then I am not yet dror (free), and certainly, freedom is light-years away from me. You are all invited to join me," wrote Dror, who offered a fitting reference to the meaning of his own name dror/freedom, which was in stark contrast to the travesty of injustice.
Additionally, Honenu director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad wrote a letter to the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Rishon L’Tzion, asking them to act for the release of Amiram Ben Uliel from solitary confinement to take part in the Passover Seder with other prisoners.
]]>Monday, April 3, 2023, 12:58 Honenu director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad wrote a letter to the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Rishon L’Tzion, asking them to act for the release of Amiram Ben Uliel from solitary confinement to take part in the Passover Seder with other prisoners. Ben Uliel was sentenced to three life sentences plus 17 years’ imprisonment following his conviction in the deadly Kfar Duma arson case. The sentence was based solely on his confession, which was extracted by the GSS after interrogation under extreme duress, a euphemism for torture. There is no corroborating evidence.
In his letter, Meidad described Ben Uliel’s extreme prison conditions: “Amiram Ben Uliel, a young married yeshiva student, and father of a daughter, has been imprisoned for seven and a half years, under the most severe conditions of any prisoner in the State of Israel. He is in solitary confinement, in a small cell, with no human contact, not with visitors from outside and not even with other prisoners. It seems as if they are trying to deprive him of his sanity. Amiram was convicted in the Kfar Duma arson trial in one of the most absurd rulings that the State of Israel has known.”
“However, it is not on the matter of his conviction that I am writing to you, esteemed Chief Rabbis. In honor of the upcoming Holiday of Freedom [Passover], I ask you to do everything within your power to ensure that Amiram will at least sit at a festive table in the company of other prisoners on the Seder night. Allow him to ease his isolation, if only slightly, and allow him the feeling, if only partially and temporarily, of freedom and happiness on a Jewish holiday.”
Several days ago, a campaign was launched (see flier above) petitioning the Prison Service to allow Amiram Ben Uliel out of his cell to celebrate Passover with the rest of the prisoners. Dozens of rabbis signed the petition. Additionally, activists from "Justice for Amiram!" are planning to hold a Passover Seder outside of Eshel Prison, where Amiram Ben Uliel has been held under almost completely solitary conditions for over seven years.
The activists distributed fliers under the banner “Justice for Amiram!” and reported increasing interest by individuals and families to participate in the seder outside of the prison. The fliers read: “Amiram’s in prison? So am I. Extracting confessions by torture is by Mafia style, not by fair trial!”
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Sunday, April 2, 2023, 10:10 Honenu Attorney Ophir Steiner filed a civil suit with the Jerusalem Magistrates Court on behalf of a Jew who was assaulted by an Arab in Jerusalem during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. The civil suit demands 120,000 NIS in compensation from the assailant and follows a criminal trial in which he was convicted of assault causing substantial injury and racially motivated malicious damage. In November 2022, the assailant was sentenced to seven months of community service, and the victim was awarded 4,000 NIS in compensation.
The statement of claim describes the assault: "In May 2021, the plaintiff, a resident of Jerusalem who dresses as a Hareidi Jew, was making his way from HaGai Street to the Bab Hutta neighborhood in Jerusalem. At the entrance to the neighborhood, he encountered a group of Arabs, including the defendant. The defendant turned to the plaintiff and warned him in Hebrew, "Don't pass through an Arab neighborhood," and added, "No. You don't pass." The plaintiff, who understood that he would not succeed in passing, turned around so that his back was facing the defendant. Then, in a racially motivated act, the defendant hit him in his left shoulder. As a result of the blow, the plaintiff's glasses and hat fell to the ground. The plaintiff turned back toward the defendant and bent down to pick up his hat and glasses. Then the defendant hit him again, this time on his back. The plaintiff managed to pick up his hat and turned to leave the site. The defendant followed him and hit him again, on the head, knocking his hat to the ground for a second time. His motive was, again, racist. The plaintiff fled the scene. As a result of the attack, his left cheek was scratched and his glasses were damaged. The acts described above constitute assault by the defendant on the plaintiff, which caused him substantial injury and damage to his property."
Attorney Steiner further detailed the injuries caused to the victim, the pain and the suffering, primarily emotional, resulting from the assault in which he was beaten, injured, and humiliated in public, only because he was a Jew. In the framework of the suit, the plaintiff asked the court to award him punitive as well as compensatory damages, due to the assailant's racist-nationalist motive.
After filing the suit, Honenu Attorney Ophir Steiner, stated, "This was an ugly assault on a Jew who had a visibly Hareidi appearance. He was humiliated in public only because he was a Jew, and it all happened in the capital city of Israel. The civil suit complements the criminal proceedings and will allow the victim to receive monetary compensation from the violent assailant, thus increasing deterrence against those who want to terrorize us."
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