Sound Advice by Rabbi of Kochav HaShahar

Rabbi of community of Kochav Hashahar explains the problematic nature of the Shin Bet's approach to the population in Judea and Samaria. arutzsheva

A. First of all, I congratulate the Shin Bet on the serious and strict treatment of stone-throwing. Dozens of cars are hit on the roads of Judea and Samaria by Arabs every week. If they assigned to every stone-throwing a department of the security services, as was done in the present case [Arrested youths suspected of murder of PA Arab woman], we can be sure that the stone-throwing will stop.

B. The publications about the drawing of a swastika and the burning of an Israeli flag, if true, are outrageous and should be dealt with by the educational teams. These things have nothing to do with the investigation of the murder. Their publication by the Shin Bet has one purpose: to try to justify and distract the public from the severe violation of basic rights of minors under interrogation in the State of Israel.

Indeed, juvenile crime is a serious matter that requires treatment, but criminal behavior towards minors by an official authority of the State of Israel is far more serious and worrisome, and from this we must not distract ourselves.

C. It is important to know that the Shin Bet plays a significant part in the anti-Zionist phenomena found among some of the youth in Judea and Samaria. Years of persecution, violent arrests, detentions and denial of basic rights by the Shin Bet make it difficult for educators to build feelings of empathy towards the state's authorities. When the head of a Shin Bet interrogation team tells me that all these youths, without exception, are terrorists, how can you expect them to stand for “Hatikvah?”

The first and fundamental condition for dealing with the so-called "Hilltop Youth" is to begin to act with these boys honestly, not with cruelty and wickedness. That way we can restore their trust in the State of Israel.

D. Since the beginning of the episode, I find it hard to understand: How can you hold boys in detention while the head of the yeshiva testified to police that these boys were sitting with him at the same hour for the Shabbat meal? After all, dozens of boys sat together at the same time - there is no stronger alibi than that. According to what I was told by the heads of the yeshiva, this alibi was never examined.

The answer to this question seems to be that the Shin Bet thinks that the yeshiva heads are not telling the truth. But how can one relate to rabbinical educators, one of whom is a brigade commander in the reserves, as liars and not even examine their claims? The painful answer is that the Shin Bet not only marked the suspects in the act as terrorists, but also the entire population that surrounds them as a terror-supporting population. They must put an end to this approach!

The Second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, and we must not let it happen again, G-d forbid. It is necessary to remove such investigations from the Shin Bet security service, which is intended to fight the enemies of the state, and return them to their natural place, to the Israel Police.