Quick to Pull the Trigger Against the Great Ones of Israel, Yet Compassionate Toward the Haters of Israel — More From the Campaign of Persecution Against the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

And now, another layer of the campaign of persecution against the gaon haTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a has been exposed. If until now the media outlets were still able to ignore the targeted persecution against Rabbi Berland shlit"a, it seems that now it will be much harder to do so.

We all remember that the courts ruled several times that the honorable Rabbi Berland shlit"a should be released, but sadly this angered certain people, who hurried to push those rulings aside. Among the judges who rushed—and even seemed eager—to overturn the release decisions, Judge G'oya Skafa-Shapira stood out, choosing to add harsh claims to her reasoning at the last moment, just before she sent The Rav into detention until the end of proceedings. The judge did not address the fact that Rabbi Berland shlit"a is already close to advanced age, and that his health is far from stable. She also chose to ignore the fact that, in truth, there are no solid claims whatsoever against the Rabbi shlit"a. Yet it seems the atmosphere of persecution has already seeped deep into the rotten pipelines, and with repulsive, empty arguments, the matter was buried under a cloak of stalling and pursuit.

If the One Who arranges these events had not wanted to reveal the systematic nature of this failure, then it is likely that—aside from Rabbi Berland shlit"a’s people—the ruling would have appeared correct in the eyes of an outside observer. But suddenly, a public storm has arisen against that very judge, and suddenly prominent figures have begun to claim that apparently that judge’s hand was too quick on the trigger.

These are the words published on Channel 2 News: "Judges Chagit Mak-Kalmanovitch and G'oya Skafa-Shapira, who serve in the magistrate and district courts in the city, decided in the course of their duties to postpone the prison sentence imposed on the terrorist who carried out the attack (the murderous shooting attack near Givat HaTachmoshet), and also to postpone his arrest for violating an order barring entry to Jerusalem in the past month. Since last night, posts have spread on social networks containing messages of abuse against the judges."

"In one post written against Skafa-Shapira it said: 'We will not forget and we will not forgive,' and also, 'Judges whose hand is light with terrorists but heavy with soldiers who defend the People of Israel—Is there a greater absurdity than this?' Another post directed against Judge Mak-Kalmanovitch carried similar wording, and it was noted that 'the legal system treats the terrorist as if he were a white-collar criminal.' During the day, MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) also published an especially sharp post against Mak-Kalmanovitch and claimed that she 'preferred terrorists' over him in one of the hearings in which it was decided to distance him from the Temple Mount. 'It is the eve of Yom Kippur and I do not forgive you,' he wrote. 'I will never forget that day when I stood before you. You preferred to believe the terrorists and their Muslim helpers.'"

"I submitted to you a polygraph test, but you accused me of acting not according to the rules of procedure," MK Glick continued. "I cried out before you: Are you interested in the truth or in 'procedure'? But you mocked me. You preferred the terrorists over me and decided to distance me from the Temple Mount because, as you defined it, 'there is concern that I am dangerous.' You preferred to believe the violent—terrorists, scoundrels, liars. I felt that you were attempting to take my life! Exactly one week later, on the basis of the tailwind he received from you, Muataz Hijazi tried to shoot me and murder me. His assassination attempt did not hurt me at all; your assassination attempt was like a knife piercing the heart." Glick concluded: "As a result of the fact that you postponed a terrorist’s prison term for four months, he murdered yesterday two innocent Jews and wounded many others. On the eve of Yom Kippur, before your Master, will you be able to wash your hands in innocence?"

And to our point: True, on the surface there is no direct connection between the harsh claims against Judge Shapira and her puzzling decision against Rabbi Berland shlit"a. But in practice, a troubling picture emerges before our eyes: the Israeli legal system in general, and Judge Shapira in particular, are quick on the trigger when it comes to rabbis—great Torah leaders—who represent a large and important public. Yet when it comes to declared haters of Israel, who are not afraid to express their hatred publicly, they are afraid to harm their delicate feelings and their human rights.

It is painful that things have reached this point, but it is heartening to see how the Master of the World reveals more than a handbreadth to anyone who wants to choose truth.