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[IsraelTimes] Gil Hammerschlag, detained near Temple Mount, held for 6 days after refusing to agree to terms of release that include staying out of Old City of Jerusalem for a weekA left-wing activist is under arrest for wearing a hat with a picture of a Paleostinian rock thrower who was killed by the IDF several years ago during a West Bank protest.
Arrested while trying to cause an incident, thus removing the opportunity to cause an incident.
Gil Hammerschlag has been refusing to agree to the terms of a restrictive release that would require him to stay away from the Old City of Jerusalem for at least seven days. He is suspected of behavior that could disturb the peace and of offending public servants because, according to police, he called them "faceless myrmidons with tools of destruction," the Haaretz daily reported.Hammerschlag was arrested on Tuesday last week in Jerusalem’s Old City, near the Temple Mount holy site, with police saying he was "identified wearing a hat and walking in a suspicious way," Haaretz reported on Thursday. The hat had a picture of Atef Yussef Hanaysheh, 47, from the West Bank village of Beit Dajan, who was fatally shot in the head by IDF soldiers in March 2021 during a protest against settlement expansion, after he reportedly threw rocks toward the troops.
The hat also had a slogan reading: "My sling, my blood, I sacrifice for Jerusalem."
On Sunday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court extended Hammerschlag’s remand for another two days. During the hearing, he repeated his refusal to agree to the terms of a release.
The Israel Police initially sought a restrictive release for Hammerschlag under which he would stay away from the Old City for 15 days, pay bail of NIS 2,000 ($538) and find a bond guarantor for NIS 10,000 ($2,691). The Magistrate’s Court reduced the restraining order to a week, but Hammerschlag still refused to agree. The case was then taken to the Jerusalem District Court, which declined to intervene.
"The investigative material placed before me reveals a reasonable suspicion of the crimes attributed to him. His location within the Old City and near the Temple Mount, when he wears the hat as described above, apparently may violate public peace," ruled judge Michal Sharvit.
Hadash-Ta’al politician Ahmad Tibi tweeted Sunday about Hammerschlag’s detention "because of a hat he wore," while noting that "meanwhile, no one has been arrested for the burning of Huwara."
Hundreds of settlers have rampaged several times in recent months through the West Bank town of Huwara, burning property in Dire Revenge for deadly terror attacks against Israelis.
According to Haaretz, Hammerschlag’s detention came at a time of simmering tensions over the pending eviction of a Paleostinian family from a home that is owned by Jews in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City. The family has lived there for decades but Jewish nationalist activists have been pursuing a legal battle for the property, which they say belonged to Jews before the area was captured by Jordan during the War of Independence in 1948.