The Strange case of Tali FahimaThe case of Tali
Fahima has by now made it to both the Sydney Morning Herald
and the Age. To refresh everyone’s memory “Tali Fahima
served her time in the Israeli army, voted for Ariel Sharon
as prime minister and took it as given that her country was
struggling for survival against terrorism.” She has been in
administrative detention – a treatment normally reserved for
Palestinians and not Israeli Jews – for several months now.
Now she has finally been charged with a crime.
There are some strange aspects to the case which have not
been covered by the Australian media. The main allegation
against her is detailed in Haaretz:
“Fahima allegedly
hampered an Israel Defense Forces operation in the area, the
aim of which was to arrest suspected militants.
“During the operation the IDF lost extremely sensitive
material, which eventually found its way to the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigade. Fahima is accused of translating the
documents for the wanted militants, allowing them to hide
and evade capture at a later stage of the IDF operation.”
Not mentioned in the English edition was the following
sentence from the Hebrew edition which is credited to the
Israeli news agency Itim:
“According to Fahima’s
defence counsel, advocate Smadar Ben-Natan, no one in Jenin
needed Tali Fahima to translate documents as everyone there
knows Hebrew.”
The ridiculous nature of the allegation
was slammed by Yossi Dahan in the Israeli web site Haokets
[the sting http://www.haokets.org/]:
“The security forces and the legal system are working
under the assumption is that the Hebrew language is a secret
code language that the Territories’ residents haven’t been
able to crack for decades. Tali Fahima, one of the few
people with access to this secret code, crossed the lines,
reached all the way to Jenin in order to give the cipher to
the enemy.”
Other writers followed along the same
track. Who are the authorities kidding? How can they prove
that, with so many people familiar with Hebrew, it was her
rather than anyone else who picked out the names in the
document?
To top it all, it has now been revealed that
a poet who called for her released was called in for an
interview with the Israeli Secret Service.
Israeli
left activist Yael Berda suggested that this calls for a
creative response:
“Write a poem about Tali Fahima and
send it to the prime ministers office to fax 972 - 2 5669245
or for those that can write Hebrew go to http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMO/Public+Applications/PublicApplications/
perhaps the poems should be addressed to Avi Dichter, Head
of the GSS. (Ironically I’m told that Dichter means poet in
German. As Haifa University Avraham Oz wrote it also
provides a new meaning to the term poetic justice!) – Sol
Salbe]
[The independent Middle East News Service
concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly
from Israeli sources. It is generously sponsored by the
Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed
here are not necessarily those of the AJDS. These are
expressed in its own statements]
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/519220.html
Israeli woman Tali Fahima charged with assisting
enemy
By Haaretz Service and Itim
Protest poet
Shmuel Yerushalmi was investigated Sunday evening by the
Shin-Bet security service following the publication of his
poem "They shall not break Tali down," in support of
pro-Palestinian activist Tali Fahima, charged earlier during
the day with several security offenses.
Fahima was
charged Sunday in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court with
offenses including assisting the enemy during wartime,
passing on information to the enemy and weapons
possession.
According to the indictment, Fahima, an
Israeli Jewish woman, entered the West Bank city of Jenin
roughly seven months ago and joined company with Al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigade activists.
Fahima allegedly hampered
an Israel Defense Forces operation in the area, the aim of
which was to arrest suspected militants.
During the
operation the IDF lost extremely sensitive material, which
eventually found its way to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.
Fahima is accused of translating the documents for the
wanted militants, allowing them to hide and evade capture at
a later stage of the IDF operation.
The maximum
possible sentence that Fahima may receive if she is
convicted is life imprisonment.
Fahima has been in
custody for the past four and a half months, during which
time the Shin Bet internal security service has been
investigating her ties to Zacharia Zubeideh, the head of
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in Jenin.
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