Edelstein’s synagogue denies calling police on women who distributed hostage flyers
Herzliya synagogue official calls arrests ‘insane’; Likud MK offers his full backing to police, claims there was a break-in despite video showing building was open
The warden of the synagogue where three women on Thursday distributed flyers on behalf of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and were arrested a day later for alleged breaking and entering, said Sunday that there was no break-in at the synagogue and that the arrests were “insane.”
Speaking to Channel 12 news, Itai Mauda, the warden (gabbai) of the Ohel Moshe synagogue in Herzliya, denied that the synagogue filed a complaint or called the police over the incident.
Asked whether the synagogue — where Likud MK Yuli Edelstein is a regular worshiper — had called the police, Mauda said: “We absolutely did not.” He appeared to indicate, without elaboration, that the Shin Bet’s VIP bodyguard unit may have been the one to file the complaint.
Mauda said that the synagogue, which he called “the most open in the world,” holds “prayers every Shabbat and every day for the release of the hostages and the recovery of the injured.” Asked whether the synagogue had any objection to the distribution of the leaflets — which the three women placed one at a time on congregants’ seats — Mauda said, “Absolutely no problem.”
He said he considered the fact that the women were arrested for their actions to be “insane, absolutely out of proportion.”
Channel 12 also quoted Mauda stressing there was no break-in or desecration of the synagogue, and adding that the flyers have since been placed prominently in the synagogue because congregants are deeply concerned for the hostages.
The flyers distributed last week featured the images of six hostages believed to be held captive in Gaza as well as an image of a young Edelstein — who was a refusenik and prisoner of Zion before being allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1987 — with the words “Let my people go” across the top.
Earlier Sunday, Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, publicly backed the police arrests and said he “completely understood” why “the people of my synagogue filed a complaint with police after they discovered the break-in that took place apparently in the evening hours or at night.”
Edelstein referred to the incident as a break-in, despite security footage showing that the synagogue was open when the women entered.
תיעוד ש @JoshBreiner ואני מביאים של הנחת תמונות החטופים בבית הכנסת אוהל משה בהרצליה, המקום פתוח, אחת הפעילות נכנסת פנימה, פותחת דלת צדדית וממנה נכנסות השלוש לשים את הפליירים על כסאות בית הכנסת. שווה שמונה שעות בתחנה?
הפעילות השתחררו לבסוף ללא מעצר בית אבל בתנאי הרחקה מבית… pic.twitter.com/AByWjzyX0V
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) September 13, 2024
“I give my full backing to the Israel Police and many words of thanks for the fact that, in addition to all their tasks, they have come to guard me and the synagogue against all kinds of rioters and allow prayers to take place,” Edelstein said.
The veteran Likud MK added that “we are on a slippery slope. If we don’t set very clear boundaries for what is a demonstration and what is a protest, we will end up in bad places. I firmly ask that we all remember that in the end there is one country and one nation.”
The three women were arrested on Friday, a day after they distributed the flyers. One of them, Idit Alexandrovich, said she was cuffed at her home and taken away in front of her young children. The three were released some eight hours later under restrictive conditions. They have not been charged.
The Justice Ministry’s Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) announced on Saturday that it had launched a probe into the incident.
Haaretz reported Sunday that the police arrested the women without first receiving permission from a judge, which is required in cases where suspects do not pose an immediate threat.
Nitzan Ilani, an attorney for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told Haaretz that the arrest was executed without a judicial warrant “because no reasonable judge would have approved an arrest warrant for placing flyers in a public place.”
Meanwhile, Channel 12 reported on Sunday that 26 protesters have been indicted since mass demonstrations against the government began in January 2023, a figure that comprises less than 2% of all arrests made at protests during that period, indicating police are arresting demonstrators without reason at a high rate.
The statistic was provided by “The Arrestees’ Envelope,” an NGO that provides legal assistance to detained protesters. The NGO said 1,839 demonstrators have been arrested since the anti-government protest movement began in early 2023, and that 775 of them were detained after October 7.
The network also reported that, according to a police document it received, 117 complaints against police officers have been filed with the DIPI, but 97% of complaints were closed without any legal consequences.
