Ofer - Criminal Offence, Holding and trading of combat materiel
Ofer Military Court 6.11.19
Yvonne Mansbach, Hava Halevi (reporting) Guest: Oren, Persico, journalist from “The Seventh Eye”
Courtroom 1:
Judge: Etty Adar
Defense: Atty. Akram Samara
Today we were joined by the journalist Oren Persico. He had requested a permit from the IDF Spokesperson, so a soldier from the Spokesperson’s office accompanied us wherever we went.
During the night of 7.8.19 Dvir Sorek, a yeshiva student in the process of becoming a soldier was murdered on his way from the yeshiva to Migdal-Oz settlement, where his family lives. His body was found early in the morning. Suspects were subsequently apprehended.
There was no hearing in the case today, only “arraignment” to assure that the defendants had received the indictment (in Arabic translation) and that they understand it. The accused are:
Ahmad Aref Halil Alasafra
Kassem Alasafra, whose wife was indicted two months ago, presumably because her husband was under investigation. The charges against her are failure to report a crime, sheltering a felon and other charges. She is detained until the completion of the investigation. (This info about the wife’s detention I found on Wikipedia).
Nasser Alasafra
Mahmoud Kamel Muhammad Atauna
Yusef Said Atiya Zahur
The trial of these five detainees
will resume on 7.1.2010
Courtroom 5:
Judge: Lidor Drachman
There were 37 cases in Judge Drachman’s docket. Each hearing lasted about 5 minutes. 17 detainees were charged with throwing objects or manufacturing Molotov Cocktails. 5 were charged with membership and activity or holding an office in an unlawful organization (Reminder: the state that purports to be the only democracy in the Middle East defines all Palestinian organizations in the occupied territories – charity, development, religious, women, workers union, students and educators – as unlawful and bans them and those who promote them).
6 were charged with possession and manufacture of combat materiel, one with illegal stay inside Israel and several for property violations.
There was only one illegal resident among the 37 cases. Is this a coincidence or does it reflect an economic reality (improvement in the situation in the Territories that eliminates the necessity to look for work in Israel) or is the reason administrative: the civil administration issues more permits? Or is the reason improved security at the checkpoints? If any of you have an explanation, please let us know.