Picture of the terrorist hung on Jaffa Clock Tower
Picture of terrorist next to a noose hung on Jaffa landmark
Police launch investigation after video surfaces showing 2 right-wing activists ascending Jaffa Clock Tower and hanging picture of terrorist who killed Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal in Ariel; lawyer accuses cops of becoming 'thought police.'
Extreme right-wing activists hung on a Jaffa landmark overnight Wednesday a picture of the terrorist Abed al-Karim Adel Assi, who in February stabbed to death 29-year-old Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal
in Ariel in a terror attack.
“Its statement that police had removed the picture that was hung on the Jaffa Clock Tower and its launching of an investigation demonstrates that the police believe they have a right to censor art exhibits and to even scare decent citizens with investigations,” he vented, before threatening the police with legal action.
In a video that was recorded of the incident, the director of the ultra-nationalist group Ozma Yehudit, Tzvi Sukkot, together with another activist, can be seen ascending the iconic Jaffa Clock Tower on a ladder and stringing up a cutout of the terrorist, pictured only in underwear standing beside a noose.
Activists hang picture (צילום: עוצמה יהודית)
The act was carried out as part of a campaign calling for the death penalty to be imposed on terrorists. Former MK Michael Ben-Ari, who is also a member of the group, said that the image was taken from an art exhibit prepared with a student from the Shenkar school of art, design and engineering.
Sukkot, a resident of Yitzhar in the West Bank, was arrested last year for allegedly carrying out a "price tag" incident after claiming to witness two Palestinians handcuffing a man and forcing him into a vehicle.
“Human dignity and human rights belong to human beings and not to the scum of mankind who took a knife and slaughtered a father of four small children and left behind a young widow, who is the one who received all possible rights in this case,” he said.
“It is worth us knowing how to give respect to the lives of the citizens of Israel and not to walking murdered of this kind,” he added.
Rabbi Ben Gal (Photo: Yair Sagi)
Police, who promptly removed the picture and launched an investigation, said that the situation constituted an escalation and a blow to public order.
Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who also serves as one of the heads of Ozma Yehudit, criticized the police for their response. “The Israel Police is losing its senses and becoming the thought police,” he scathed.
Tzvi Sukkot (L)
“If anyone is invited to an investigation, we will see to it that the police is sued for tens of thousands of shekels. The Israel Police is not in charge of thoughts of citizens,” he added.
Abed al-Karim Adel Assi
At the end of March, the Central District Attorney’s Office filed to the Lod District Court an indictment against Assi, who carried out the stabbing near the entrance to the settlement of Ariel in the Samaria region of the West Bank on February 5. Ben Gal is survived by his wife, Miriam, and their four children.
Following a prolonged manhunt, Assi was caught in Nablus a month-and-a-half later, along with several other suspects who helped him hide.
