Consideration of Character in an Israeli Court of Law
(Mohammed: A Case Study)
“Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5)
The Righteous Among the Nations:
Those so recognized are awarded the Righteous Medal and a certificate of honor (to their next-of-kin in the event of a posthumous recognition) and their names are inscribed on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. This is the highest honor bestowed by the Jewish people, through the State of Israel, on non-Jews.
Many types of help were extended to Jews by individual non-Jews; but usually the help took one of the following four forms:
- Sheltering a Jew in one’s home, or in lay or religious institutions, shielded from the outside world and concealed from public view.
- Helping a Jew pass as a non-Jew by providing false credentials or baptismal certificates (issued by the clergy as a means for obtaining bona fide credentials).
- Aiding Jews to flee to a safer location, or across a border to a safer country. This involved accompanying adults and children on surreptitious journeys over distances inside occupied territories to a border, and negotiating safe crossings of such borders.
- Temporary adoption of Jewish children (for the duration of the war).
Israel Case Study:
On February 5th 2015, I was waiting for my turn to present in the court room of the Honorable Judge Mr. Shamai Becker in the District Court of Tel Aviv and I had the chance to listen to the case of “Mohammed”. The case involved a 38 year old Palestinian Muslim from the Samaria Area who was caught in Israel by the border police without an entry permit or a valid driver’s license. In the Hebrew language, we refer to illegal entrants as “SHABACH” meaning “Shoee Bilti Chuki” (An illegal person in our soil).
After spending 18 days in jail, Mohamed was officially charged by the State and then released. In the first hearing, prior to Mohammed’s release, the DA asked for an extended time in jail because this was Mohammed’s second illegal entry offence.
In the second hearing, which I observed, the DA agreed to impose a much lighter punishment on him, asking for the permanent cancellation of Mohammed’s driver’s license, a suspended 18 month in jail, and a monetary fine.
In rendering his decision, the Judge reflected on the testimony of Dr. G, a character witness who had participated in the hearings.
Dr. G’s testimony:
My son and I drove into an Arab Village by mistake in the fifth day of Ramadan last year. In search of the way out of the village, I was misdirected by locals towards a dead end road instead of the exit road. When I stopped the car to avoid the dead end, a crowd immediately gathered and began to throw stones at us. We were certain that we would be killed, when at that moment “Mohammed” and his entire family pulled me and my son out of the car and kept us safe in the face of the lynch mob that appeared. It took the IDF 45 minutes to arrive and the entire time we were protected by “Mohamed” and his family. We know they risked their life for us.
The Decision by the court:
The judge referred to the accused as a local hero, a “Righteous Among the Nations”. The Judge read the criteria of the law: “Chok Zikron Hashoa Ve Agvura – Yad Vashem – 1953” , adding that the Mohammed and his family suffer from continued harassment in their village due to their earlier protection of Dr. G and his son. The judge felt that this was a tremendous display of honor and character in the face of threat and intimidation.
Recognition of the Righteous is based on the following (4) criteria:
- Aid was extended by non-Jews in situations where Jews were helpless and threatened with death or deportation to concentration camps.
- The rescuer was aware that in extending such aid he was risking his life, safety and personal freedom (the Nazis considered assisting Jews a capital offense).
- No material reward or substantial compensation was exacted by the rescuer from the rescued as a condition for extending aid.
- Such rescue or aid is attested to by the rescued persons, or substantiated by first-hand eyewitness reports and, where possible, by bona-fide archival documentation.
The Honorable Judge continued on as follows: “I believe that the Israeli court should be thankful to the accused for his actions, thus encouraging risky operations and execution of these altruistic acts. No further punishment should be sentenced or imposed on him in gratitude for his brave acts saving Jews from a very bitter end”
The Judge sentenced “Mohammed” to time already served (when he was first arrested) 18 days in jail.
Additionally, the judge noted that two other rescuers from the same incident recently received a permit to enter Israel. He asserted that he would be preparing a recommendation to the relevant authorities to grant Mohammed the commensurate right to enter the State of Israel freely and legally. He noted that he was making this recommendation without challenging the discretion of the competent authorities, and without having in front of him the other circumstances of the accused.
A final word:
Personal character and past circumstances need to play a significant role in consideration within the Israeli court of law in the plea bargain phase before the judicial decree.
Hiding Jews in the rescuers’ home or on their property and smuggling and assisting Jews to escape is not a simple act as defined by Israeli Law. Any act that contravenes an obvious law is never a simple act. However, there is a significant difference in how we now perceive righteousness as distilled from Talmudic law, when it is in conflict with national law. Israel is strong enough to assert a message of gratitude to those who risked their lives for us and as a result we can and should reward them for their help with a softened verdict as the honorable judge has done in the case of Mohammed.
