US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV5009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 005009 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/OCS/ACS/NESA 
DS/IP/NEA, DS/ISI/CIL 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, GZ, KPAL, PTER, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT, ISRAELI SOCIETY, U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS 
SUBJECT: (SBU) THE ARREST OF SAADIA HERSHKOP: A 
BAROMETER FOR GOI RESPONSE TO DISENGAGEMENT FOES 
 
REF: A) 03 JERUSALEM 4024  B) TEL AVIV 4895  C) TEL 
AVIV 4949  D) TEL AVIV 4861  E) TEL AVIV 4970 
 
1.  SUMMARY: The well-publicized arrest of Saadia 
Hershkop (DPOB:04-Mar-1987 NY) provides a window into 
the measures the Government of Israel is willing to 
take to ensure that Disengagement moves forward, the 
treatment American citizens may receive if arrested as 
part of anti-Disengagement activities, and the profile 
of one Amcit protester with at least a two-year history 
of right-wing activism.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  Hershkop has been in Israel for an unspecified 
amount of time as a student at a yeshiva in Kfar 
Chabad, which is known as a center for anti- 
Disengagement planning and activity.  His family still 
lives in New York City, where he was raised.  He speaks 
fluent Hebrew (his father is Israeli-American) and 
appears to have been in and out of Israel for at least 
several years, at times participating in political 
activism. (Note: Ref A is a report of his 2003 arrest 
for the "distribution of illegal propaganda for an 
illegal organization, Kahane."  Kahane is a right-wing 
group affiliated with Kach, which has been designated 
as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the USG. End 
Note.)  His lawyer, whom he describes as "excellent," 
was supplied by Chanenu, an organization that has 
provided pro bono counsel to other Amcit anti- 
Disengagement arrestees. 
 
3.  Hershkop was arrested on August 7 at his yeshiva by 
two undercover security agents posing as students.  He 
claims he asked them to produce a warrant for his 
arrest, but they replied that since he was just being 
taken in for interrogation, no warrant was necessary. 
He said that he was later told that he was being held 
under "Administrative Detention," a process under which 
arrestees are outside of the normal judicial procedures 
and can be held without due process.  In the majority 
of such cases, neither the defendant nor the 
defendant's counsel is privy to the evidence against 
him.  Such appears to be the case for Hershkop, who 
claims that in his August 9 hearing before a judge, a 
security official behind a curtain passed secret 
evidence to the judge.  On the advice of his lawyer, 
Hershkop accepted an agreement by which he would 
voluntarily leave Israel at his own expense for at 
least 50 days, a period that can be extended 
indefinitely.  This departure has been erroneously 
reported in the Israeli media as a deportation. 
 
4.  During his interview with conreps, Hershkop 
asserted that the Israeli government controls the 
media, and that he and his group were being watched 
closely, including via electronic surveillance.  He 
said that the government's worries about him primarily 
centered around three issues -- the claim that he 
personally knew the IDF soldier who shot up a bus full 
of Israeli Arabs (Ref D) on August 4 killing four 
individuals, the suspicion that he is a danger to both 
Israeli Arabs and the Israeli security forces, and the 
suspicion that he is a danger to the GOI's plans to 
evacuate Gaza. 
 
5.  Hershkop referred to the August 4 incident as "when 
that soldier was killed in Shfaram," making no 
reference to the fact that Natan Zada, the AWOL 
soldier, was killed by an angry mob after emptying the 
magazine of his rifle into the bus, killing four 
passengers.  He says he barely knew Zada, and had only 
met him three or four times.  Hershkop nonetheless went 
on to relate to conreps detailed information about Zada 
that a mere acquaintance presumably would not know.  He 
also denied Israeli media charges that he is a member 
of Kach, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization. 
He went on to say that he could not be a member, since 
Kach no longer existed, and "has no office, no phones, 
no president." 
 
6.  Prior to his August 10 morning departure from 
Israel, Hershkop was held at Ashmoret prison, a small 
facility near Netanya.  In his discussion with conreps, 
he described the GOI as having gone to great lengths to 
hush up both his arrest and the arrests of some of his 
associates, to do so when media were not present, and 
to disperse them to separate facilities around the 
country.  He said he has received treatment designed to 
single him out and punish him, such as substandard 
kosher food for the first day of his detention, a one- 
night placement in a cell full of smokers despite his 
bronchial infection, the withholding of his 
prescription medicine, and lack of access to his 
lawyer. 
7.  Hershkop ended his discussion with conreps with the 
ominous warning that "there will be more Americans 
arrested soon, many more," and that, "with God's help, 
we will stop Disengagement." 
 
8.  Comment: Such complaints about prison conditions 
are not unique to Hershkop and do not, in conoff's 
opinion, constitute unusual treatment.  The fact that, 
except for the first night, he was held in a solitary 
cell in the "Separation Wing" of Ashmoret Prison, is 
unusual and does seem to lend credibility to his 
claims.  End comment. 
 
 
KURTZER