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Steven Plaut writes

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yephora:
in email this interesting tidbit:

General Gershon Hacohen is head of all army training colleges and was
personally in charge of the expulsion of Jews from the Gaza Strip.  He
appeared on Channel 10 a few days ago and said this:

"What happened a year ago (the Gush Katif expulsion) was a crime, and I
was unfortunately a part of that crime against the Jewish people.  What is
happening here now, the second Lebanese War, is the collective punishment
we have received for what happened a year ago in Gaza."

kahaneloyalist:
While I like to believe he is doing teshuva I will believe him when I see him rebuild the lives of all those people he hurt

yephora:
Fat chance. He could also be cannily positioning himself in anticipation of the fall of Smolmert & Co..
But I agree with you, I hope it is sincere repentance on his part.

yephora:
"This is an extremely important case.   The anti-democratic attempt to
use the courts to suppress free speech failed for the first time"
---

Court Nullifies AGs Indictment Against Nadia Matar
Sunday, September 10, 2006 / 17 Elul 5766

The indictment against Nadia Matar for her fiery letter to Disengagement
Authority chief Yonatan Bassi has been expunged, implicitly citing
politics in the original decision to indict Matar.

The indictment against Women in Green chief Matar claimed that she had
violated the ban on "insulting a public servant" when she compared Bassi
to the Judenrat by agreeing to take part in the expulsion of Jews from
their homes in Gush Katif and Shomron.

"On September 19, 2004," the indictment states, "the accused faxed a
letter to Disengagement Authority chief Yonatan Bassi at his home stating,
inter alia: ..All your declarations won.t help, Yonatan. The truth is that
you are the modern version of the Judenrat, and truly a much more terrible
version, because during the Holocaust, the task was forced upon the Jewish
leadership by the Nazis, and it is very difficult for us today to judge
them. Today, there is nobody standing with a gun to your head forcing you
to collaborate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern
Samaria..."

Israel's Attorney General, as head of the State Prosecutor's office, is
assigned the power to decide whether or not an indictment is lodged
against an accused citizen. After the text of the letter was widely
publicized in the media, AG Menachem Mazuz announced that Matar would be
indicted.

Indictment - Null and Void
Jerusalem Magistrates Court Justice David Mintz ordered the indictment
expunged Sunday, explaining, "I am relying, in my decision, on the
statement of the Attorney General himself, who said, .Criminal law cannot
be the answer to all the ills of Israeli society. Unrestrained criticism
is, to our sorrow, a day-to-day part of the Israeli reality. Any time we
are dealing with freedom of speech, criminal law does not present the
correct and effective tool. I am therefore ordering the erasing of the
charge."

Matar received vocal support from Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Yisrael
Aumann, and 2,146 people re-sent copies of her letter with their names
affixed to the bottom, daring the Attorney General to file indictments
against them as well.

Representing Matar was prominent attorney Yoram Sheftel. In his opening
statement in the trial Sheftel summed up his approach: that the prosecution was engaging
in "selective law enforcement founded on invalid political considerations
and/or on cowardice."

Sheftel's Speech
Sheftel went on to present an exhaustive list of public figures, such as
Shas Party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin, as
well as left-wing activists, whose inflammatory statements the Attorney
General has declined to prosecute.

"It is inconceivable," Sheftel said, "that the Court, after becoming aware
of the facts that I will list, will leave in place the charge sheet, which
would completely undermine the trust of the public, or at last of the
decisive majority of the public, in the authorities entrusted with the
enforcement of the law."

Sheftel cited dozens of statements by the first President of the State of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann, and the first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion,
calling Revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky a "Hitlerist" and
"Vladimir Hitler," as well as terming Menachem Begin "the embodiment of
the worst of Nazism."

"My client did not say: 'Yonatan Basi is a Hitlerist' - but Chaim Weizmann
did use that language,. Sheftel said.

A petition filed against MK Beilin for his signing of the private Geneva
Initiative with the PLO, Sheftel said, fit exactly with Israel's legal
description of treason, which is: "An action to remove sovereign territory
of the State of Israel from its bounds - the punishment for which is the
death penalty."

The Attorney General said, "This is not the criminal field that is
suitable for such treatment [and is] subject to public debate." The
Disengagement, that is, the deportation, wasn't 'subject to public
debate?' Sheftel asked. "The same State Attorney's office that does not
file charges against Yossi Beilin for genuine traitorous activity, in
cooperation with hostile elements, files charges against Nadia Matar."

"Incidentally, right now, the Prime Minister's daughter, before the
cameras of the foreign press, close to the Chief of Staff's house (where
she invited them), calls the IDF Chief of Staff a 'murderer.' The Chief of
Staff is a public servant. Was an investigation opened for this? Will she
be put on trial?"

Matar herself took the stand in the course of the trial, stating: "This
comes at a time when... members of Peace Now are spying and informing on
behalf of the Arab enemy. At this time, Knesset Members and left-wing
public figures are shaking the bloodstained hands of Hamas members. At
this time, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admits that he is prepared to repeat
the crime of handing weapons, ammunition and pieces of the homeland to the
Arab enemy. All these people are not being brought to justice for their
treasonous and criminal words and deeds.

"But we, the Jews, who dare to criticize the crime of expulsion of Jews
and abandoning of our land to the Arab . we are chased and trampled, with
pogroms perpetrated against us, as in Amona, and put us on trial."

'Kapo' is Not Strong Enough
"Just so it is clear to all," Matar declared. "You can't frighten us! We
will not be silenced! I do not take back a single word of the letter I
sent Yonatan Bassi. On the contrary, it is now clear how much pain and
suffering this man, together with all the rest of the expulsion criminals,
caused to our expelled brothers in particular, and to all citizens of
Israel in general. The word Judenrat is much too moderate. The word has
not yet been invented to describe the monstrosity of the Jews who caused
so much damage to their fellow Jews. The words kapo, traitor or
collaborator are also too moderate.

"Even if I have to sit in prison for these words, I will continue to cry
out these words: The Land of Israel belongs to the nation of Israel in
accordance with the Torah of Israel, and anyone who lends a hand to hand
over parts of our homeland and expel Jews - from the Prime Minister, to
the ministers and IDF officers, down to junior clerks like Yonatan Bassi -
must be put on trial for betrayal of Zionism and Judaism, for
collaborating with the Arab enemy, which continues in the way of the
Nazis, to murder and destroy the Jews."
[Bravo! --Y]

Speaking with Arutz-7 following the verdict, Matar said she is very happy
to see that the court "finally realizes that the prosecution sometimes
includes politics in its decision to hand down indictments. It was a big
blow to the prosecution."

Attorney Sheftel expressed reserved optimism: "This was the lowest court
of the land, dealing with less important cases, so the decision definitely
does not hold the power of precedent that a Supreme Court decision would.
However, to the best of my knowledge, it was the first time an Israeli
court has nullified charges against a criminal defendant implicitly due to
the fact that it actually accepted the argument that the charges were
brought because of political considerations."

The prosecution now has 45 days to appeal the case to the district court.
Matar and Sheftel are considering suing the prosecution to cover legal
expenses.
 
:D :D :D

yephora:
Oh, these stupid, stupid, suicidal, insanely self-hating Jewish Knesset liberals! What on earth is to be done about them??
---
Quick.  Name the only country on earth where loyalty and
patriotism to that country are regarded by that country's own legislature
as a form of racism!

Well, if you said Israel, you win two points and a two-fer-one coupon to
Wonderland.

The Knesset yesterday rejected a proposed law that would require people to
sign a loyalty oath in order to vote or sit in the parliament of Israel
(see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/776547.html ).  The proposal was
the initiative of the National Union Party.

"Racism" is suddenly all the concern of Israel's Caring Left.   In the
past few days, there have been negotiations between SMOlmert's people and
Avigdor Lieberman's party to see if the latter will join the coalition.
That triggered soiled panties among hordes of Israel's Caring Left.  These
folks regard Lieberman as a "racist."   Among those who regard Lieberman
as a racist are open anti-Semites, cheerleaders for terror, fans of
Holocaust Deniers, supporters of Iran, and people who openly demand that
Israel be destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Left has been denouncing the proposal for a "loyalty oath"
as yet another form of blatant Jewish racism against Arabs.  After all, we
all know that many Israeli Arabs and also many Arab Knesset members in
Israel's parliament are disloyal enemies of their own country, seeking its
destruction and cheering on genocidal terrorists.   Azmi Bishara is
perhaps the most open about it, but lots of others, including many Arab
students enjoying subsidized classes at state-financed universities, hold
exactly the same political positions.  So clearly asking such people to
sign a loyalty oath before allowing them into the voting booths or the
Knesset restrooms would violate their delicate sensitivities and offend
their sense of being as "The Other".

The majority of Jewish Knesset Members agree that it would be racist to
ask voters to swear allegiance to their own country.  Really.

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