Testimony of a Prisoner who was Released
I was arrested on Monday the 16th of Tammuz [July 2, 2007] at 9:45 a.m. in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph, across from the Shefa supermarket. The Border Guard police chased anyone with a chareidi [ultra-orthodox] appearance. I fell to the ground from the strength of the blow which I received from one of the policemen. Despite the fact that I was lying on the ground, they continued to beat me.
Afterwards, they dragged me to a police patrol car, with my head down and my feet up. They put Rabbi Aharon Breier and Rabbi Yoel Simone, who also received blows, in the patrol car with me.
When we were in the patrol car, they treated us with terrible contempt, trying constantly to provoke us. When they saw that we did not relate to them, the police started to use profane language. Of course, this upset us and we asked them to watch their mouths, but they laughed at us and continued to do so.
Rabbi Aharon Breier leaned his hand on the bench in front of him, where no one was sitting. A Border Guard policeman standing inthe entrance of the patrol car pushed his hand from the seat, but Rabbi Aharon put his hand back and asked him, What do you care anyway?, no one is sitting in front.
A moment later, he found a new device with which to provoke us. Since he knew that chareidim do not listen to radio and that it bothers them very much, he turned on the radio at top volume. (According to Jewish law, it is forbidden for man to hear women, who aren't their immediate relatives, sing.)
We tried to scream louder than the radio, and to beg them to turn it off, but as a response, the policeman took out a club, and together with four of his comrades, beat us. From much fear and pain, we became quiet.
Rabbi Aharon Breier, who received incessant blows, grabbed the club from one of the policemen and told him, "Know that you will have to ask forgiveness from the Almighty for beating us."
The police, who were amazed at his composure, changed their tone and told us,"Respect us, and we will respect you." We told them that if so, they should turn off the radio which disturbs us, and then we will be quiet, and indeed, they did so.
Approximately around 10:30am, we reached the police station. Immediately when we reached the gate, the police began to heap accusations upon us: You threw rocks, you closed off the road, you insulted policemen, etc.
They brought us up to the investigations waiting room. There were not enough seats, so some sat on the floor.
Suddenly, the station officer Oz Eliasi appeared, together with the policeman who had filmed in the area, and watched to see which one of us he could accuse of some crime, but apparently, he did not see anything special there.
Later, they began to call us one by one for investigations. They approached Rabbi Moshe Leib Friedman and tried to lift him from the chair to bring him into the investigations room, but they did not succeed.
Then Oz approached and said to the policemen, "Step aside--I will teach you how to act!" He went over to Rabbi Moshe Leib, who sat on the chair, lifted his fist, and hit him on the head with full strength, one time and then another time, continually in this manner. I was completely stunned and trembled with fear.
It should be noted that some of the policemen, who stood on the side and saw all of this scene unfolding, were left stunned and shaken.
I saw how Rabbi Moshe Leib, lost his equilibrium, apparently from dizziness in his head, and he was no longer able to withstand the torture. Two policemen took hold of him and put him into the Investigations room.
Then came the turn of Rabbi Aharon Breier. Oz reached him and told him to get up, and when he did not respond right away, he grabbed him by the throat and dragged him in this way till the investigations room, then he threw him on the floor and kicked him brutally in the stomach, till he almost fainted and had no strength to move. One of the Yasam [anti riot squad] members (who had no number on his lapel, but who can be identified in photographs) pounced on Rabbi Aharon and screamed at him in German, "Ich Nazi! Ich Hitler! Dir hargenen!" (translation: I am a Nazi! I am Hitler! I will kill you!") Rabbi Aharon said to the Yasam, " I will complain about you!" The policeman got up and said, "Did I say anything?!..." Oz told him, You didn't say anything, you didn't do anything, continue, and he left the place.
With great irony, they noted in the file of Rabbi Moshe Leib Friedman, "Escaped criminal!" "Runaway," and with red marker, "Violent! Violent!" was written.
I myself saw everything up until this point. The remainder of what went on in the investigations room, I was not able to see, but Rabbi Avraham Fisher, who already was in the room, continues:
When I saw what they did to Moshe Leib, I said with anger to the policeman: I see that here the police are the KGB! The investigator asked me why I say this, but instead of an answer, I pointed with my finger at what was happening with Rabbi Moshe Leib. Of course, the investigator had no response.
In the afternoon at 1:00pm, they took us in the patrol car which transported us to the Russian Compound in Jerusalem.
Every few minutes, Rabbi Moshe Leib complained about strong headaches. This went on all the time until Wednesday.
On Wednesday, after we finished reciting Shacharis [morning prayers],approximately at 10:30am, Rabbi Moshe Leib said, that he is not able to go out to bathroom preparations, because every time he tries,headaches overwhelm him, and he suffers terrible pain. We askedhim to show us his head, and then we saw that he had a small hemorrhage,and then he told everyone what had happened to him with Oz (I already knew of the incident, which I had seen with my own eyes).
The procedure in jail is that each new prisoner, before he is put into the prison cell, undergoes a medical examination by the prison doctor. Rabbi Moshe Leib related, that when they brought him in to see the doctor, the doctor, who saw that he had a hemorrhage in his head, asked the policemen, "when did this blow happen? - before the time of the arrest or after the time of the arrest?" The policemen said, that it was within the time of the arrest. To his question of how it had happened, they answered, "from his acts of resistance"The doctor said that it is nothing, and they put him into our cell.
On Wednesday, as was said above, when his pains intensified greatly, we suggested that he go to be examined by the doctor, for a second time. At first, Rabbi Moshe Leib refused with the argument that in any case, he will say that it is nothing, but since the pains were extremely severe, he finally agreed.
Rabbi Avraham Fisher, called the guard and told him that Rabbi Moshe Leib wants to see a doctor. When the guard asked why, they showed him the hemorrhage in Rabbi Moshe Leib's head. The guard took Rabbi Moshe Leib to the doctor, but the doctor was not there. They registered him in the infirmary, and returned him to the cell.
At midnight, a guard came into our room and announced: Friedman Moshe, you have a turn at the doctor. Although Rabbi Moshe Leib had already gone to asleep, he decided to go, due to the great pains. When he showed the blow to the doctor, the doctor said that he didn't see anything, and offered him Nurofen pills for headaches. Rabbi Moshe Leib refused and told him he only wants to know if it is dangerous. If it is dangerous, then he wants a doctor, and if not, not. The doctor told him that it is nothing and he can return to the cell.
When we asked him, from time to time, if it still hurts him, he said that it did. On Shabbos, he complained of strong pains, and then we saw that his hemorrhage had increased greatly in size.
I am prepared to testify about this before any Beis Din [court of law], or in any place where it will be necessary.
One of the Prisoners of Zion
Mr. Yoel Rothschild
Beit Shemesh
Identity Number 062843420
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This story will be updated when the condition of R. Moshe Leib is learned.
More acts of violence and oppression.....