Hamas War

Monday, October 26, 2009

Spooked and Spied On

This unnerving story from the New York Times about a British family which was spied on by their local government, brings to mind what once happened to a neighbor of mine.

The British family was spied on by their town, because it was suspected that they didn't really live in their school district.  Besides the invasion of basic privacy, think of the expense of all the spies who followed, photographed them and checked through phone and other records.  This is very 1984.

My neighbor's story was different, but spookier.  A number of years ago she picked up a "trampist," hitchhiker going to a nearby community, which is very acceptable in our neck of the woods.  He began annoying her with talk of being a Jew for Jesus.  Then he noticed the gun (perfectly legal and licensed) she had on her.

He demanded to see her gun, to hold it.  She refused. He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over.  She was faster, grabbed her gun and cocked it.  She pointed it at him, stopped the car and ordered him out.  Later on she was contacted by the police.  They took her gun from her.  Apparently, he was a Shabbak (internal police) agent assigned to spy on our communities.

I guess the guy found us all too boring and law-abiding.  Honestly, we really are.

9 comments:

Keli Ata said...

Scary!

It doesn't sound like that Shabbak agent was particularly bright. If he wanted to infiltrate the community and do undercover work disguising himself as a J4J doesn't sound like a great way to gain trust in a Jewish religious community. But you wonder what he was trying to accomplish by provoking her to almost shooting him.

Rahel Jaskow said...

Did she ever get her gun back? It sounds like there were no real ground for taking it from her.

Batya said...

Keli, yes it was a provocation. He underestimated the woman. With it being just her word against his, she was told she hadn't a chance.

Rahel, no she never got it back.

goyisherebbe said...

Yes, it's scary. But why is no one making a public issue out of this? It is the Prime Minister's Office which has ministerial responsibility for the Shabak, but the defense establishment and the Defense Minister are obviously cooperating. There are decent people in the Shabak who should be informed about this, as should sympathetic MKs and journalists. Have a demonstration for the return of the lady's gun. She should have shot the guy and killed him and claimed self-defense. How did she know what the degree of danger was? Better to be in jail than six feet under. But when the Shabak takes your gun or when they put you in administrative detention or hold you in jail until trial, they don't need much in the way of grounds.

Batya said...

goyish, it happened a number of years ago.

josh said...

goyish, there is this ridiculous closing argument called "lack of public interest" that has been slapped on many, many cases.

On top of that, the patriot right is usually religious [and extraordinarily forgiving] and ignorant or unwilling to go through with legal prosecution.

Batya said...

josh, basically, she gave up without a fight, not willing to deal with it.

josh said...

Thanks for confirming.

Our emunah in Hashem tells us to move on with life. Unfortunately, part of our duty here on Earth is to make sure that justice is served. Organizations like Honenu should be commended.

Batya said...

Honenu is such an important organization. This story predates it.