Police Yassam special forces and detectives conducted a nighttime raid on late Thursday night, descending upon a family home in a community in Samaria and detaining the mother of the family for investigation.
The woman is a kindergarten teacher and a mother of four.
In the raid the police forces came with a search warrant signed by Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court Judge Shlomit Ben-Yitzhak. They woke up the sleeping family members and seized a computer as well as the mother’s cell phone.
After searching the home, the detectives took the woman in for investigation without any sort of warrant, although they allowed her husband to accompany her together with their baby.
At the police station the woman was questioned about the “gay pride march” in Tel Aviv, even though she didn’t even know about the parade and was not involved in activism against the march in any way whatsoever.
The woman had never been investigated by the police in the past and is not a political activist, raising even more flags around the nighttime raid.
Two hours later the woman was unconditionally released.
In recent days the Honenu legal aid organization has assisted several citizens who were taken from their homes to police stations and made to sign on statements obligating themselves not to arrive in Tel Aviv during the march.
Honenu noted that while up until now the citizens were people who had been investigated by the police in the past, or who were ideologically identified with opposition to the gay pride march, the detention of the kindergarten teacher signified a new low.
The arrest of the woman was unusual not only because it took place in the dead of night, but also because she has never been investigated by police in the past or taken part in any protests against the gay pride march.
“Police fiascos relating to the march continue, only now there are fiascos in terms of taking heavy-handed steps in the style of the KGB,” said Honenu in a statement, referencing the repressive Soviet security agency.
“Arresting a normative woman at 2 in the morning without any reason and without a warrant? We hope that those who took part in the act will be held accountable.”
