Public Call for Release of Samaria Farm Owners
Dozens of rabbis, local authority heads and public figures are demanding the release of the owners of Zafnat Farm, saying they acted in coordination with security forces to recover a stolen herd, and are calling for their immediate release. Rabbis, local leaders, Knesset members and public figures published a public call for the immediate release of two of the owners of Zafnat Farm in Samaria. The signatories appealed to the Israel Police and security officials, demanding that the two be released from custody after they worked to recover a flock of sheep stolen from the farm.
In their letter, the signatories said they were “two Jewish family men, pioneers and loyal,” and added that the two are “known and recognized to the public and to the authorities as responsible people.” It also said they established “an exemplary farm that protects thousands of dunams of state land.” According to the appeal, on the previous Sabbath there was suspicion that a flock of sheep had been stolen from the farm by Arab rioters. The signatories explained that the farm owners acted in coordination with the IDF and security forces to recover the flock, but were nevertheless arrested and are now being attributed various offenses.
The appeal also said that “their arrest is an inappropriate harm to them and may create damage to trust in the important fabric that exists between the settlement and the security systems. The most devoted people, and the most pioneering, work together with the systems.”
Among those who signed the appeal were Samaria’s chief rabbi and head of the Birkat Yosef yeshiva in Alon Moreh, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed; the rabbi of the Yitzhar settlement and head of the Ro'eh Yisrael yeshiva, Rabbi David Dudkevitz; the rabbi of Alon Moreh, Rabbi Mordechai Wolnob; as well as settlement veterans Menachem Felix and Beni Katzover. Also signing were Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Karnei Shomron council head Yehonatan Kuznitz, Knesset members Tzvi Sukkot, Amit Halevi, Limor Son Har-Melech and Ariel Kallner, and Nachala movement chair Daniella Weiss.
Among the signatories are also the head of the Eitam yeshiva, Rabbi Uziya Sharvaf; the CEO of the Yesha Council, Omer Rahamim; and heads of secretariats and communities across Samaria, including Rechelim, Einav, Yitzhar, Migdalim, Shavei Shomron, Homesh, Evyatar, Nofei Nehemia, Sha-Nur, Mevo Dotan and Tal Menashe. Rabbi Shai Daum, rabbi of the “Or Hatzafon” community in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yossi Palai, head of the renewed Jericho yeshiva, and the heads of the “Pri Haaretz” yeshiva, Rabbi David Ben-Natan and Rabbi Yehuda Leibman, also joined the list of signatories.
The signatories concluded their appeal with a direct call to the Shai District police to act for the immediate release of the farm owners. The farmers’ attorneys from the Honenu organization said, “The narrative the Israel Police is trying to present is a false narrative. Since the arrest, the police have not checked the suspects’ version, which they gave in full and clearly. This incident was entirely an incident of searching for a herd, of rioting by Arabs, of a stolen herd and of shooting that took place because of a life-threatening situation the suspects found themselves in. They have no connection to this violent incident.”
