Some Good News - But Where Is It Leading

Some Good News - But Where Is It Leading
August 9, 1996

This morning I received some very good news.  My friend David Shirel, long-time
resident of Tel Rumedia, who has been confined to his neighborhood for the last
9 months by an administrative order, will be free as of midnight tonight.  His
present administrative order expires today and yesterday he was informed that it
will not be extended, at least not for the time being.  Tomorrow David will be
able to legally pray in a minion at Ma'arat HaMachpela for the first time in
NINE MONTHS.  He will be able to leave his home at Tel Rumeida without fear of
being arrested and imprisoned for disobeying a military administrative house
arrest order.  
     This really is good news.  But the good news is only partial.  Yesterday,
     when David
Shirel was notified of his impending freedom by people whose identity I am not
at liberty to reveal, it was extremely apparent that they had no evidence of any
wrongdoing on his part.  In other words, he was held under house arrest for
three-quarters of a year without being charged of any crime, without being
indicted, tried or convicted - and without the `authorities' having any reason
for this incarceration.  In spite of this, he was held, and yesterday `warned'
not to participate in any illegal activities, `or else....'.
     David's neighbor, Baruch Marzel, is still restricted to Tel Rumeida by a
     similar order.  He
won't be free tomorrow.  His present administrative order will not expire for
another two months. His appeal to a military court against the order was
rejected. He appealed to General Uzi Dayan for a permit to leave Tel Rumeida for
a few hours in order to be interviewed for a position allowing him to work from
his home.  The request was denied. Last week his son asked why they never went
to pray in Ma'arat HaMachpela.  Baruch requested permission to pray, at least on
Shabbat, in the Ma'ara.  The request was denied. 
     PRESENTLY, SOME 35 ISRAELIS ARE BEING RESTRICTED BY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS.
     So, what's with Bibi Netanyahu?  After all, most of these orders go through
     Israeli
intelligence services, which are directly responsible to the Prime Minister
himself.  Here is my analysis of the situation: Either Bibi is unaware of what
is going on (which in unlikely), or the intelligence officers are lying to him
(which is much more likely.)  Being that he doesn't have time to check out
everything he is told, he is relying on the information presented to him.
     Doesn't he realize that Israeli intelligence is a branch of the `far-left?'
      That too is a good
question that is very difficult to answer.  On the one hand, he has to give some
backing to the existing parties.  But, and this is a VERY BIG BUT, he also has
to understand that he was elected in order to weed these people out, and change
the system.  These people are poisoning Israel, contaminating democracy, and
destroying any remaining faith in the term justice.  Bibi's allegiance is not to
the head of the Israeli intelligence services, or the Chief of Staff, or the
Attorney General. His allegiance has to be to the people of Israel, who look to
him to initiate the changes necessary to rebuild Israel, and to stop the
Bolshevik processes instituted by the previous government.  That is why we
elected him.  And Bibi must know that if he doesn't do what he was elected to
do, we will not refrain from pressuring him and demonstrating against him the
same way that we did against Rabin and Peres.  That is not what we want to do,
but if there is no choice, we will not hold back.
     David Shirel was approached by some friends who wanted to hold a big
     Kiddush
tomorrow morning in celebration of his release.  He refused.  He told them, when
everyone is freed, Baruch Marzel and all the others, then we will all celebrate
together.  Until then, we have to continue to work."  Let's hope that Bibi
understands what he has to do and that he does it, without fear and without
hesitation, very very soon.