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Jerusalem: Judge Quashes Indictment Of Pugilistic Priest

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  • Jerusalem: Judge Quashes Indictment Of Pugilistic Priest

    JUDGE QUASHES INDICTMENT OF PUGILISTIC PRIEST
    By Jeremy Sharon

    Jerusalem Post
    Oct 31 2011

    Greek Orthodox cleric was sued for punching haredi man who spat in
    his direction in 2008.

    In a rare ruling, a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court dismissed
    an indictment filed against a priest who punched a haredi yeshiva
    student in the face for having spat at him as he passed.

    In June 2008, Greek Orthodox priest Martarsian was walking along
    The Armenian's Street, in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of
    Jerusalem, when the yeshiva student spat toward the ground in his
    direction.

    The priest then punched the man in the face, causing him to bleed.

    The priest did not dispute that he had punched the man, but asked
    that the indictment be dismissed in accordance with a clause in
    the law that allows for charges to be dismissed "if the indictment
    contravenes the essence of the principles of justice and fairness."

    Judge Dov Pollock said in his ruling last Tuesday that the court had
    heard evidence of daily incidents in which Christian clergy were spat
    upon by members of the ultra-Orthodox community, something which,
    the judge added, has been occurring for a number of years and which
    the police has not acted to prevent.

    "Needless to say, spitting toward the accused when he was wearing
    the mantle of the church is a criminal offense," the judge said.

    Those who do this "hurt not only the people they spit at, but the
    image of our country, tourism and our values."

    The judge criticized the priest for taking the law into his own hands
    but said that it was equally deplorable that the authorities do not
    take the required action to uproot the phenomenon through prosecution
    and education.

    "It is intolerable that a man of the Christian faith should be
    demeaned because of his religion, in the same way that it is for a Jew,
    Pollock said.

    "The Jewish people experienced a long history of Christian
    anti-Semitism that brought great suffering to Jews and Judaism,"
    the judge continued.

    "However, with the realization of the return of the Jewish people
    to sovereignty and independence, the state must strive not to look
    back but to establish a country that guarantees freedom of religion
    and worship to every religion, a state where every person is equal
    before the law without distinction of race or religion. These things
    are the cornerstone of the Declaration of Independence, and the rock
    of the foundation of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state."

    The plaintiff told the court that he had not spat at the priest to
    degrade him but because he suffered from a medical complaint that
    caused him to produce a lot of saliva.

    Pollock dismissed this argument owing to the fact that he had not
    produced any medical documentation to substantiate the claim, nor
    had he needed to spit during the duration of the court proceedings.

    "The defendant is being prosecuted for having, in a single incident,
    punched a man who spat in front of him, after having suffered years
    of being spat at and demeaned while wearing the mantle of the church,
    and having never received any response from the authorities for this
    distress," the judge said.

    He ruled that the indictment represented a contravention of the
    principles of justice, for which he was dismissing the charges.

    Shahar Ilan, vice president of Hiddush - For Religious Freedom and
    Equality, applauded the ruling and called on rabbis and leaders of
    the haredi community to denounce the phenomenon of members of their
    community spitting at Christian clergy.

    "The haredi leadership has to understand that the fact that we have
    established a Jewish state brings responsibility, Ilan told The
    Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

    "We have to prove that we don't treat people from other religions as
    Jews were treated in the past. The idea that we came here and treated
    others as we were treated is simply insufferable."

    Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, co-founder of the Center for
    Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, also welcomed the
    ruling.

    "The crime this man committed by spitting at the priest was
    embarrassing him. This yeshiva student was in return embarrassed
    by having been struck by the priest, so I hope it was a lesson well
    learned for this particular yeshiva student," Riskin said.

    "The haredi community's attitude to the Christian church stems from
    the pogroms carried out by Christians mobs against Jews in Europe
    for hundreds of years, incited by members of the Christian clergy,
    Riskin said.

    "But times have changed and a whole new era of Jewish-Christian
    relations and understanding has dawned upon the world, and the haredim
    - and all Jews - should understand this and act accordingly."

    http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=243803

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