Aggressive and arbitrary conduct

[Englander]

The prosecution and defense in Tali Fahima's trial reached an agreement under which she will plead guilty to several charges and be sentenced to a jail term of three years. In practice, Fahima will go free in 10 months, should the court approve the plea bargain.

The subdued ending of the Fahima affair raises tough questions about its beginnings. When the indictment was filed last December, Fahima was charged with aiding the enemy in wartime - an offense punishable by a life sentence. At the first hearing, the state's representative announced she was forgoing the death penalty. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who had ordered Fahima placed under administrative detention several months earlier, said that "she took part in planning a terrorist attack in Israel." The state prosecutor said that Fahima constitutes "a grave and immediate danger to human life." The person who was supposed to put an end to these exaggerations, Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, did just the opposite and instructed that Fahima be remanded until the end of judicial proceedings. Were all these people misled, or did they mislead the public?

It boils down to one of two options: Either Tali Fahima is a threat to national security, or else she is the victim of a false charge.

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Even those not astounded by Fahima's identification with the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin ought to be frightened by the state's aggressive and arbitrary conduct in this case. There are hundreds of human rights advocates and demonstrators operating in Palestinian Authority territory, some of whose activity the army does not look kindly upon, such as those who regularly protest the separation fence in Bil'in. At any given moment, any one of them may be charged with entering an unauthorized area or aiding the enemy, and be arrested.

The state prosecutor's office is supposed to serve as a barrier to such false suits, and the courts are supposed to take the air out of balloons floated by investigators and prosecutors; but in this case, it looks like everyone bowed their heads before bogus security considerations.

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Haaretz