 Jewish Policemen arrest and Tear Nursing Mother from her Infant
    for Refusing to accept Order banning prayer at Machpelah
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                        October 7, 1994
                                
     Since Dr. Baruch Goldstein, z"tl, H"yd, sacrificed his life in this holy place last Purim,
cutting down 29 enemies of the Jewish people, the Rabin government has been randomly and
illegitimately, persecuting good Jews from Kiryat Arba and other parts of YESHA, all of
whom he views as his enemies, on the pretense that he is preventing another such incident. 
More than the fact that Dr. Goldstein killed Arabs, Rabin will never forgive him for being
murdered by the Arabs and thus depriving him of a vehicle to vent his anger and frustration. 
     Aside from the fact that none of those arrested was even remotely connected to any
sinister plot as suggested in the biased Israeli press, practically none were charged with any
crime what so ever, those who were charged were charged with unrelated allegations.  None
the less, the Israeli Secret Service continues to intimidate the entire Kiryat Arba community by
their random midnight arrests.     
     No one knows when the dreaded knock will be on their door or which father and
husband, or mother and wife for that matter, will be dragged away for days, weeks, or months
of "questioning".   
     Despite this outright act of collective punishment against all Jews on the part of the
Rabin government, the Jews of Kiryat Arba patiently awaited the completion of the new so
called "security arrangements" which would enable them to return to our holy place to offer
our daily prayers.  Now, after nearly eight months, we are informed that many of the new
security devices installed would require Jews to violate the Sabbath merely by entering the
building.  And, even worse than this, a list of over eighty Jews has been prepared to forbid
them from entering the building by arbitrary military orders.  In other words, the army is
punishing Jews in anticipation of the possibility that they may violate the rules in the future.  
     On Thursday morning, October 7, 1994, Jewish policemen came to Hebron to visit a
young Jewish mother of eight, Anat Cohen, to give her one of these outrageous orders.  Anat
refused to acknowledge receipt of this despicable paper and was forcibly arrested by the police
who took her away from her nursing son.  They have threatened to keep her incarcerated until
she agrees to stay away from the Cave of Machpelah!  She adamantly refuses to do so.
     We have suffered the needless and lengthy closure of the Cave of Machpelah building. 
We have endured the physical intimidation of arbitrary arrests and administrative detention. 
Now our military is trying to impose a new procedure of "selection" whereby they determine,
by methods known only to them and not subject to challenge or due process, which Jews shall
be permitted to pray at the Cave of Machpelah, and which shall be forbidden to do so.
     This is the last straw.  This outright violation of human rights and dignity cannot be
tolerated by any fair minded individual.  Were a Jew to be served notice that he would not be
permitted to pray at the synagogue of his choice in any city in the United States, France, Great
Britain, or even Russia, there would doubtlessly be an international uproar at this violation of
human rights.  In Israel such anti Jewish orders are the norm. 
     While many Jews look at the kotel as our holiest place, the fact is that it's holiness
derives from the Temple Mount above it.  Every Jewish government in the reborn state has
refused to permit Jews and only Jews from praying there.  Rather than making any attempt to
permit Jews the most basic of religious freedoms, the right to pray at their holy places, our
government is seeking to take even more rights away from Jews.  Now our second most holy
site, the burial place of our Fathers and Mothers in Hebron, is being taken from us as well,
under the guise of protecting the safety of our enemies.  When Jews are murdered by Arabs
never do we see Arab rights to pray violated as flagrantly as ours have been.
     There must be an immediate and relentless outcry on the part of all people who value
religious freedom anywhere.  The government of Israel must know that they cannot deprive
Jews of any facet of Jewish observance, not to mention the most basic civil right of due
process when arrested, without a strong outcry from G-d fearing people of all nationalities.