Contact Information

21 Adar Bet 5768

1) FOR U.S. CITIZENS:
Call, rather than e-mail, the Israel Embassy in Washington [telephone 202-364-5500] and demand to speak to the military attach .

2) To find the Consulate nearest you in the USA, click on http://www.israelemb.org/israeli-consulate-in-usa.htm

3) Embassies and consulates in the world: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/diplomatic%20missions/Web%20Sites%20of%20Israeli%20Missions%20Abroad

4) IN ISRAEL
In addition to pressuring in the States, we must pressure the authorities in Israel too. The only way the Halamish brothers can get out of going to jail is by having the President of Israel pardon them. A demand for a pardon has been filed by the family with the President and with the Department of Pardons at the Justice Ministry. The more faxes and phone calls they will receive from the friends of Israel in Israel and abroad, outraged by this injustice, the more chance we have to save Itzik and Danny from prison.

*President's House
tel 972-2-6707211
fax 972-2-6707274
Ask to speak to the department of Pardons and make sure your fax arrived. (They are open every day from 9am till 11 am and from 1pm to 3 pm)

* Ministry of Justice-Department of Pardons
tel: 972-2- 6466801
fax: 972-2-6466813
Send your faxes to the Attention of Attorney Emmy Palmor

* Very Important: send a copy of your letters to Shas Minister Eli Yishai and other Shas ministers and urge them to act on behalf of the Halamish brothers

Shas Members of Knesset:
(we apologize if not all numbers are correct. Sometimes they change their numbers)

1. Chaim Amsellem Tel: 02-649-6457 02-675-3474 fax 02-649-6527 eamsalem@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-900-9393

2. Ariel Atias Tel: 02-675-3220 aatias@knesset.gov.il Minister of Communications 050-530-7028

3. David Azoulay Tel: 02-640-8184 02-640-8185 fax:02-675-3908 dazulay@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-549-4151

4. Shlomo Benizri Tel: 02-640-8196 02-640-8197 fax:02-675-3747 slomob@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-633-11-55

5. Amnon Cohen Tel: 02-640-8372 02-640-8373 fax 02-640-8927 amncohen@knesset.gov.il
050-5515-361

6. Yitzhak Cohen Tel: 02-640-8397 02-640-8398 fax: 02-670-6157 izchakec@knesset.gov.il
05045-7005

7. Yakov Margi Tel: 02-640-8187 02-640-8188 fax: 02-675-3759 ymargi@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-496-3737

8. Avraham Michaeli Tel: 02-640-8128 02-640-8129 fax: 02-675-3961 <amichaelli@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-333-1526

9. Meshulam Nehari Tel: 02-640-8446 02-640-8447 fax: 02-649-6447 mnahari@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-744-0120

10. Yitzhak Vaknin Tel: 02-640-8106 fax 02-649-6027 yvaknin@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-545-6706

11. Eliyahu Yishai Tel: 02-640-8406 02-640-8407 fax: 02-666-2909 eyishav@knesset.gov.il

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee cellphone: 050-624-0932

12. Nissim Zeev Tel: 02-640-8151 02-640-8152 fax: 02-649-6549 nzeev@knesset.gov.il
cellphone: 050-5411-752

More Shas Contact Info:
Tel: 02-675-3550 Fax 02-649-6543

Daughters Of Zion: Letter to American Consulate

10 Shevat 5768

January 16, 2008

The American Consulate

American Citizens Services Section

Special Consular Services



Attn: Nili Weinfeld



Dear Ms. Weinfeld,



My name is Y. and I am an American citizen. My daughter X, who is 14 years old, is also an American citizen.



On December 25, 2007, she was detained with some other girls and boys her age for being in an old abandoned building not far from her home. Since then she has been incarcerated in a women’s prison for serious criminal offenders and I have not been allowed to see her. I have been allowed to speak with her by telephone only three times for one or two minutes each. At the time of her detention and arrest she was seriously abused, and has been denied her civil and legal rights during her time in prison.



The facts are as follows: She, along with 6 other girls and 8 other boys were pulled by the army and police out of an old and long abandoned building. They were taken to the police station in Sha’ar Binyamin and told to give their names and then they could go home. The boys did so and went home, and the girls refused, saying that they didn't do anything wrong. At this point they were formally arrested and also underwent serious physical and emotional abuse. I don't want to go into details about what they were subjected to in this letter, but it is profoundly outrageous and shocking.



Having spent the night at the police station, they were taken the next morning before a judge. Because they still refused to identify themselves they were sent back to prison on the pretext that the police couldn't conclude their investigation until the girls identified themselves. This, of course, is nonsense since the police have known perfectly well who the girls are from the very first night.



Every few days, X and the other girls are brought before a judge and then sent back to prison ­ not a detention center for minors but to Neve Tirza, a prison for hardened and violent criminals. Neither I nor any of the other parents have been allowed to be present at these hearing and to get a glimpse of our daughters on the pretext that since the girls wouldn't identify themselves, the authorities couldn't confirm that we were indeed the parents. The cruelty with which these children have been treated defies belief.



After two weeks of this they were finally charged: with trespassing (an offense that requires prior knowledge and intent, although no one in the area is aware of this old abandoned building belonging to anyone).



Although convicted murderers are allowed daily hour-long phone calls and weekly visits with families, until recently and only then due to massive public pressure, the girls weren't allowed to speak to their parents at all much less see them. In the past week and a half, X’s been allowed to phone me three times, but even then, she’s only allowed to speak for a minute or two, with the guards yelling in the background to just say hello and then hang up the phone.



My X is a little girl, a good and idealistic and very innocent girl who has never done anything wrong, and who is being bullied and intimidated and abused by a legal system that affords more rights and consideration to adults convicted of murder than it has to her.



I am naturally very concerned for her welfare and very afraid about the emotional and psychic damage that has been inflicted on her. However, X also has health issues that make the conditions of her incarceration worrisome. She was seriously burned as a baby and since then has had to undergo multiple yearly skin operations. Good hygiene and staying out of the sun without her special creams are crucial for her health.



I would deeply appreciate it if the consulate could advocate for X and demand that the abuse of her civil and human rights stop and that this ugly persecution of an innocent child come to an end immediately.



I will eagerly await your reply. If you need any further information, please don't hesitate to call.



Sincerely,



Y.

(Thanks to Women In Green for sending this letter)



NFPROZ Commentary:
Our thoughts and prayers are with our sisters and with their families. We are moved by the impassioned plea of Y. (the mother of X.).
The U. S> government sees your daughter, along with all of us who live in Yehudah and Shomron as thorns in its side. Her civil and human rights are irrelevant, as long as she and her friends stand in the way of the American vision of "peace." Peace for whom, I do not know. As we all know, the U. S. government, even the Bush administration which many hold to be Israel's greatest ally, has repeatedly complained to Israel about the rights of Arab squatters, and has all but ignored the the Jewish blood spilled.

The U. S. government has been blinded by its addiction to Arab oil, its complicity with the United Nations, or its traditionally anti-Israel State Department, or all of the above.

Y., our hearts go out to you, but don't hold your breath.