Three women were arrested on Friday after having placed pamphlets in a synagogue in Herzliya on Thursday. The police called the women on Friday and told them they were under arrest. "They told me that I was under arrest for conspiracy to commit a crime as well as breaking and entering. "They handcuffed my legs and hands and brought me to the station."
Reportedly, the synagogue in which the women placed the pamphlets is the one frequented by MK Yuli Edelstein from the Likud party. After being interrogated for about eight hours, the three women were released to their homes and were forbidden to contact each other or stand 300 meters from Edelstein's house or synagogue for 15 days. The police requested at first house arrest but gave up their demand.
Following the unusual arrest, dozens arrived in front of the Gillot police station on Friday night to protest. According to Idit Alexandrovich, one of the women arrested, the police changed the charges during interrogation from breaking and entering to trespassing. "During the investigation, they changed the charges from breaking and entering to trespassing," she claimed. "The synagogue was open. We put up the pamphlets, talked to people, and left."
She said, "The police officers here were acting fine, but they asked me 'what's going on' and said 'wait for the investigation.' I called my lawyer and it took a lot of time." She said: "It's scary when you enter a synagogue and they persecute you. The fact that I was handcuffed is unpleasant. They could have told me to come to the station and I would have come. I guess it was a directive from above to handcuff me." Alexandrovitz concluded that "this imprisonment will not deter me from coming to protests and doing anything within the limits of the law in the hope that the hostages will be released."
Another detainee who was released said on her way out of the station: "I am ashamed of Edelstein's synagogue. Three normal women entered a wide open synagogue and placed pamphlets that read 'Let my people go' in an orderly manner."
The pamphlets placed in the synagogue featured pictures of the hostages, including the Bibas family and the inscription "Let my people go." The police reported they arrested three suspects, residents of Herzliya, for questioning on suspicion of trespassing into a synagogue and distributing pamphlets there." "During the investigation, the police noticed pamphlets scattered inside the synagogue with pictures of the hostages on them."
"The only crime here is entering an open synagogue during a Bar Mitzvah and handing out pamphlets to people," said attorney Ran Tagar. "I have no words to describe the dismay at the police's conduct, it is obvious that this arrest is political. Three women are in the station, handcuffed by the hands and feet, as if they were members of a criminal organization. They received counseling and I very much hope that the Israel Police will get over themselves and at the end of the investigation will release them."
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said: "We view this incident with deep sorrow that the subject of the hostages is being excluded from the public sphere. We regret that the police are used as a tool by those who not only do nothing to return our 101 brothers and sisters who have been suffering in captivity for 343 days, but are working and doing everything they can to thwart a hostage release deal. We praise every person who devotes his energy and time to support the hostages' families and help their recovery."
Several organizations condemned the unusual arrest, calling it political. The protest movement "Hofshi Beartzenu (Free in our country) said: "A quiet call for the return of the hostages is not trespassing; on the street, in the workplace, and also in the synagogues. We have no doubt that the entire Israeli public participates in the call for the saving of lives and the return of the hostages. The seriousness of the charges and the manner of the arrest raise serious concerns that these are arrests purely political. We must not let the fail of a national security minister take over the police, this is a clear warning sign and we will continue to fight for the rule of law and for the return of all the hostages."
Many organizations have warned about the "politicization of the police", and also condemned the recent arrest. "The political police are going off the rails. False arrests of political activists on a weekly basis cannot happen in a democratic country. There is no democracy with a political police."