The Jerusalem Magistrate Court ruled that a Jewish man who sought to bring jelly donuts onto the Temple Mount should not be barred from the site, the holiest in Judaism.
In a ruling published before the start of Shabbat, Judge Zion Saharay stated that an argument with the police does not justify arrest on the grounds of danger, as claimed by the police, who even sought to keep Nisani away from the Temple Mount for 15 days.
During the hearing, the police representative, Sergeant Major Anan Zaida, claimed that "the respondent (Nisani) arrived at the Temple Mount with doughnuts. There is a rule that prohibits bringing donuts into the Temple Mount in order to prevent provocations... the respondent arrived and took pictures and continued to insist, disturbing the policemen." At this point Judge Saharay asked where the rule forbidding the introduction of donuts was found and published, but Sergeant Major Zaida replied that he did not know where the rule was nor who set it.
The attorney who represented Beyadenu CEO Nisani at the hearing, Daniel Shimshilshvili of Honenu, claimed that the police do not have the authority to punish during the arrest stage, and that the desire to prevent Nisani from carrying out his mission, which hundreds of citizens contribute to the activities of his association for, really hinders his activities. He also claimed that this was personal harassment and persecution and even presented a photo that proves that just a few hours before the event, donuts were distributed in the same place where policemen prevented Nisani from entering.
Judge Saharay stated in the ruling that there is no reason to remove Nisani from the Temple Mount: "In front of me is the applicant's request to order to remove the respondent from the Temple Mount for 15 days, and this already after the respondent did not agree to the terms of this release... It seems that a mere argument with the police officers on the spot does not establish grounds for arrest based on risk to a person's safety, as claimed in the police request."
The judge also stated that even if Nisani argued with the police and even interfered with their activities, according to their claim, this does not justify his removal from the Temple Mount, since there is no danger involved. Finally, the judge ordered the police, who confiscated Nisani's two Go-Pro devices and a smartphone, to return the devices to him, only copy the video of the incident, and to not perform any further action.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Beyadenu, stated that: "Like all police conduct on the Temple Mount, this time too, it was determined that the police "rules" that the police enforce on the Temple Mount are based on lies. Once again, the police lost in court after another false delay of 5 hours for continuous harassment and persecution. Judge Saharay explicitly stated in practice that this is an unlawful delay that has nothing to do with the law, and even embarrassed the police when it claimed that there is a rule to prevent bringing donuts to the Mount. I thank attorney Daniel Shimshilshvili and the Honenu organization for the close legal support."
Attorney Daniel Shimshilshvili on behalf of Honenu stated that "I welcome the decision of the honorable court, which outright rejected the police's request.
"After many years in the criminal court I thought I had seen everything, but it seems that the police break records and surprise every time anew and this time, a request to distance a CEO whose entire organization is related to the place, after his request was just to take care of the wellbeing of those who come to the Mount and give them donuts.
"I suggest that the police officers deal with their work as it is described in the police order and stop coming to the court with requests that are simply out of touch with reality," Shimshilshvili said.
