[RBS] BS police investigation Q&A

[Y Engelberg]

Some replies to questions I've had...

Q.   Why all the ruckus.  the elections are over, Moshe Abutbul won as
mayor, we know who got seats on city council.  why not just leave it
at that?
A.  This is not about Moshe Abutbul vs Eli Cohen per se.  The issue
here is whether the election results that have been announced are
affected by the many illegal votes   Hundreds of fake teudot zehut
were found on election day, together with costumes, in an apartment
that was rented by one of the council parties.   Some of them were
found to have been used .  Additionally, many cases of fraud were
discovered during election day and following the counting of the
votes.
There was also a lot of tampering with election slips, which may have
invalidated hundreds of votes.
In short, the fraudulent votes , aside from being a legal, moral and
Halachic problem which should never be ignored , in the case of Beit
Shemesh, they really may have changed the results for both mayor and
city council.

Q.  Why are we not leaving it to the police to investigate the
suspicions of fraud?  After all, they already made some arrests?
A.  In an ideal world, the police will act swiftly to collect any and
all evidence in this case.  In reality, though, the Israeli police are
highly understaffed and overworked.  They have, in addition to
policing jobs, a responsibility towards the national security effort,
which here is Israel is no small issue.  Therefore, when they were
presented strong circumstantial evidence of certain allegations to do
with this election-fraud case, the police response was, and I quote,
"bring us solid, written proof."  For whatever reasons, we have to
make sure that everything is prepared for  the police's case.

To that end, we are working day and night to collect everyone's
testimonies and suspicions, and doing as much preparation as possible
to help the police.   We are also collecting any and all contributions
to help pay the lawyers who are spending hours upon hours hearing
testimonies and signing people on affidavits.

Q.  And what are all the demonstrations about?  And who is behind them?
A.  The first demonstration, with several thousand residents, two days
after the elections, was a fairly spontaneous effort of residents from
all over the city, who could not accept that after hundreds of teudot
zehut had been found on election day, that the Interior ministry would
publish any results without investigating thoroughly.
Since then, a group of residents, supporters of several city council
lists, have gotten together to have two more demonstrations.    While
Eli Cohen was asked to speak at both demos, we was not involved in the
organizing.   The purpose of the demonstrations is to keep up pressure
on a backlogged District Attorney's office to ensure that the issue
does not fall to the wayside.
People from other cities and other communities have joined some of the
action, for a variety of reasons.  Some , because they feel Moshe
Abutbul should not hold public office due to discriminatory and
insulting comments he has made.  Others, because they see this
election fraud issue as one that will affect and reflect on the
democratic process in all of Israel.
Others still, are offended by the campaigning done by the same groups
that are currently being investigated for election fraud.   The  laws
of free speech in Israel seem to allow for much hatred to be spread in
the name of religion, and the general Israeli population wants to see
where the lines will be drawn.

Q.  What can or should residents be doing?
A.  A few things.  Attending demonstrations, writing to the Interior
Ministry, and helping keep the issue in the press are all very
important, in order to keep this investigation high in the police an
DA's priority box.  Also, if you know of (or suspect)  any
questionable pre-election  or election-day activity, please contact
Adv.  Rena Hollander at    holrena AT zahav . net . il or 029919473
And, of course, donations can be made through Rena.