A7News: Report: 7-year-old rape victim told the story to her friend

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Wednesday, Jun. 26 '19, כ"ג בסיון תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. REPORT: 7-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM TOLD THE STORY TO HER FRIEND
2. ISRAEL REBUKES CHILE OVER PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO TEMPLE MOUNT
3. JERUSALEM'S TOMB OF THE KINGS TO REOPEN FOR 1ST TIME SINCE 2010
4. NETANYAHU VOWS TO STAND BY RIGHT-WING ALLIES
5. HAMAS FURIOUS AT ISRAEL'S RESPONSE TO BALLOON TERROR
6. SUSPECT IN RAPE OF 7-YEAR-OLD RELEASED - INDICTMENT NULLIFIED
7. NETANYAHU TO EXAMINE CANCELLATION OF ELECTIONS
8. LOTTERY SUBSCRIPTION CANCELLATION WAVE


1. REPORT: 7-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM TOLD THE STORY TO HER FRIEND
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The 7-year-old haredi girl who was allegedly raped by a Palestinian Authority Arab and two of his friends told her friend about the sexual assault short after it occurred, News 12 reported Tuesday night.

A welfare worker in the city where the rape occurred reported the incident to the police, who requested the victim's friend testify in the case.

Though police made every effort to ensure the girl's friend could testify, since the victim told her friend about the attack before telling her parents, the friend's parents refused to allow their daughter to be interrogated, News 12 reported.

At the same time, News 13 reported that police suspect Mahmoud Katusa, whose indictment was canceled 9 days after it was filed, had raped another girl from the same city.

That victim did testify, but did not connect Katusa to anything.

Currently, police are investigating other options, including additional Palestinian Authority workers and a local resident.

For his part, Katusa claimed to News 12 that the polygraph test showing he lied was "performed improperly," and performed in Hebrew instead of his native Arabic. He also claimed that they did not show him photos of the girl and he has no idea who they are talking about.

"I don't know who she is or what we're talking about, I'm innocent," he claimed. "I identify with the family and I have nothing against them, but they've come to the wrong person and they need to find the one who did it."

"From the first moment they took me for interrogation, they asked if I wanted a lawyer and I said no because I didn't think it was necessary. They pressured me in the interrogation, I spent almost two months in a situation where I didn't know myself."

In a News 13 interview, Katusa claimed: "This incident has ruined my life, my family, and my heart. I still don't believe it. It's all lies - not a single word said about me is true."

Attorney Yehuda Fried, who represents the victim and her family, emphasized: "The family does not want someone innocent to sit in jail. We want the perpetrator to be the one arrested. But our starting point is that he's not innocent. The military prosecutor himself said he's still a suspect and there are proofs connecting him to the crime."


2. ISRAEL REBUKES CHILE OVER PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO TEMPLE MOUNT
by Arutz Sheva Staff, AFP

Israel protested to Chile on Wednesday after President Sebastian Pinera visited a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site alongside a Palestinian Authority leader.

Pinera, on a visit to Israel, toured the Al-Aqsa mosque complex on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Tuesday, with images on social media showing him accompanied by Palestinian Authority officials, including the PA's Jerusalem affairs chief Fadi al-Hadami.

According to Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, Chilean Ambassador Rodrigo Fernandez was rebuked for Pinera's visit taking place "in violation of the regulations and a prior agreement."

"The freedom of worship, which Israel observes more than anyone else has, should be separated from safeguarding our sovereignty on the Temple Mount," he said in a Wednesday tweet.

Foreign dignitaries normally coordinate their visits to the volatile site with Israeli officials.

An official source in the Chilean delegation said the visit was a "private" one, in which "formally, only the delegation from Chile participated."

Pinera, who landed in Tel Aviv on Monday, was due to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later in the day. Pinera will meet with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday before taking off for Japan.


3. JERUSALEM'S TOMB OF THE KINGS TO REOPEN FOR 1ST TIME SINCE 2010
by Arutz Sheva Staff, AFP

The Tomb of the Kings, a 2,000-year-old archaeological gem in the heart of Jerusalem owned by France, is to reopen to the public for the first time since 2010, the French consulate said Wednesday.

The elaborate Roman-era tomb with stone shelves that once held sarcophagi, considered among the largest in the region, will be opened on Thursday, and the following Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the consulate's website said.

Visits will be limited to 15 people in 45-minute stretches, the ticket order page said, noting the need for "proper dress" at the Tomb of the Kings, which is a funeral site.

The graves themselves will remain closed to the public for conservation and safety reasons.

The vast site, located in east Jerusalem some 700 meters (yards) north of the Old City, is hidden behind a wall with a metal gate marked by a French flag.

It has been closed since 2010 due to renovations costing around a million euros ($1.1 million).

A spokeswoman for the French Consulate General said that in opening the site, France was implementing a decision and a commitment "made a long time ago".

Jews consider the tomb a holy burial site of ancient ancestors and demand the right to pray there.

Excavations of the site began in the 1860s, with Felicien de Saulcy of France taking on the project in 1863 and seeking to confirm it was the tomb of biblical figures King David and Solomon, giving rise to the site's name.

That theory has been ruled out, but the name has endured.

Several sarcophagi were found inside and are now in the Louvre museum in Paris, including one with an Aramaic inscription.

According to the most commonly accepted theory, it refers to Queen Helena of Adiabene, in today's Iraqi Kurdistan, and she may have built the tomb for her dynasty.

After de Saulcy's excavation, the tomb was purchased by the Pereire brothers, a Jewish banking family in Paris that would later hand the property over to France.

Israel and France had negotiated the site's status and reopening, but a French consulate spokeswoman declined to give details.

"We are reopening in accordance with the rules we set for ourselves," she told AFP.

Israel's foreign minister welcomed France's decision to open the tomb.

"(I) invite the public to visit the site, which has great significance to the Jewish people, and is further testimony to the deep and multigenerational connection of the Jewish people to its eternal capital Jerusalem," Israel Katz said in a statement.


4. NETANYAHU VOWS TO STAND BY RIGHT-WING ALLIES
by Hezki Baruch

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denied recent reports regarding alleged talks between the Likud party and the center-left Blue and White party to form a unity government.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu rejected the reports, saying his Likud party had not been in negotiations with the Blue and White party, and had not offered to form a unity government with a power-sharing arrangement to rotate the premiership between the two parties.

"I respect and value Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein," said Netanyahu, after Edelstein called for efforts to form a new government and cancel the new elections planned for this September.

"His initiative seeks to prevent another round of elections in Israel," Netanyahu continued. "The Knesset Speaker asked to meet with me in the coming days, and I will do so."

The Prime Minister pushed back on claims that his caretaker government had been in talks with the Blue and White party for the formation of a unity government with the premiership rotating between the two parties.

"All the rest is spin. At no point was rotation offered, and up to this point, there has been no contact between the Likud and Blue and White, and I have absolutely no intention of abandoning my natural allies for a right-wing government."

Earlier on Wednesday, Likud MK Miki Zohar told Reshet Bet that recent reports claiming the Likud had offered the Blue and White party a power-sharing rotational arrangement for the premiership were false.

"Blue and White was never offered a rotational arrangement; it is nothing more than their spin, I guess."

But MK Zohar said the Likud would consider any arrangement which would prevent new elections.

"Right now we aren't ruling out anything which would prevent these elections. We need to consider everything; but whether there will be a rotational arrangement, I don't know."

Earlier this week, Blue and White officials claimed that on the eve of the dissolution of the Knesset, in the midst of the final attempts to form a government, Netanyahu suggested that they join a unity government which would included rotation of the premiership – a claim the Likud quickly denied.


5. HAMAS FURIOUS AT ISRAEL'S RESPONSE TO BALLOON TERROR
by Dalit Halevi

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, on Tuesday said Israel bore full responsibility for the deterioration of the situation due to what he called "Israeli procrastination in the implementation of the understandings regarding the lull."

"The game of the occupation regarding the fishing area and the cessation of fuel supply to the power plant bring the understandings to a very dangerous situation with grave consequences," al-Hayya warned.

Israel restricted the permitted fishing area in the Gaza Strip and, on Tuesday, stopped fuel deliveries to the power station in Gaza.

The moves are in response to the continued firing of incendiary balloons by Gaza terrorists toward southern Israel, which causes widespread fires every day in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas organization does not see the continuation of the confrontations along the border, including the incendiary balloon terror, as part of the understandings for a truce brokered with Israel through Egyptian mediation.


6. SUSPECT IN RAPE OF 7-YEAR-OLD RELEASED - INDICTMENT NULLIFIED
by David Rosenberg

Prosecutors dropped the indictment against a Palestinian Authority resident accused of abducting and raping a seven-year-old in a haredi town near Modi'in.

According to a statement released Tuesday by prosecutors, the suspect, Mahmoud Katusa, will be freed, and the indictment filed against him last Sunday dropped.

"After additional examinations of the material in the investigation, the chief army prosecutor…found that the evidentiary basis for the indictment does not satisfy the requirement of having a 'reasonable chance of leading to a conviction'. As such, in keeping with the court's instructions, the criminal proceedings cannot be continued, and the indictment must be withdrawn, and Katusa released from arrest."

Despite the decision to release Katusa and withdraw the indictment, investigators said the probe would continue, focusing both on Katusa and "other directions".

"The police investigation will continue and intensify, both in connection with Katusa as well as in other directions."

"As soon as the investigation has an evidentiary basis for submitting a new indictment against Katusa or others, it will be done."

Nashef Darwish, attorney of Mahmoud Katusa
Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The bombshell announcement came Tuesday morning, following new revelations in the case, which first went public last Sunday.

Last week, army prosecutors filed an indictment against 46-year-old Mahmoud Katusa, a resident of the Palestinian Authority town of Deir Qaddis, near Modi'in Illit.

Katusa, who had worked both as a maintenance man at a school in a haredi city near Modi'in, and as a construction worker in the same city, was arrested on May 1st, after being accused of abducting a seven-year-old girl from her school, where Katusa worked, carrying her off to a nearby house Katusa was renovating, and raping her.

The indictment said that at least two other Arab workers helped Katusa commit the rape, by holding the victim's arms and legs.

Later, the victim identified Katusa as the perpetrator, pointing him out to a teacher.

Question arouse shortly after the indictment was filed, however, regarding the veracity of the child's identification of Katusa as the perpetrator.

The case lacked physical evidence, due in part to the family's decision not to immediately report the matter to police, and investigators say the victim may have been led by her mother to identify Katusa as the perpetrator.

Despite Katusa having failed a polygraph test during the initial investigation, prior to the indictment, a major discovery at the victim's home this week changed the prosecution's position regarding the indictment, Israeli media outlets reported Monday night.


7. NETANYAHU TO EXAMINE CANCELLATION OF ELECTIONS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

During the past few days, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has been examining a move that would eliminate the dispersion of the 21st Knesset and the elections to the 22nd Knesset, Channel 12 reported Tuesday evening.

The first stage of the process, which has been greatly accelerated in recent hours, is the convening of the Knesset Presidium by the speaker and the annulment of the Knesset's election recess.

The second stage is the formulation of new legislation that will create a legal basis for canceling the dispersion of the Knesset, a basis that does not yet exist today.

This is a complex process, since such legislation must be passed by a majority of at least 80 Knesset members, such that a broad consensus is required in the Knesset, and it is contingent on the formation of a broad coalition that will allow it.

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu is already giving a tailwind to the complex process. The Likud said in response, "Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking Knesset Speaker Edelstein seriously and will review his proposal in the coming days."

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is currently considering forming a new left-wing party under his leadership that will run in September, has already come out against the move.

"Anyone lends a hand to canceling the dispersal of the Knesset will, in practice, become a partner for corruption from Netanyahu's school." Barak tweeted, adding, "Those who support this disgrace to save Netanyahu will be expelled from the city."


8. LOTTERY SUBSCRIPTION CANCELLATION WAVE
by Mordechai Sones

MK Etty Atia (Likud) appealed to Mifal Hapayis, the National Lottery, to re-examine the financial grant given to the filmmakers who produced Leah Tsemel - Advocate, that tells the story of a lawyer who represented terrorist murderers.

In a letter sent by MK Atia she wrote: "I hereby join the call of the bereaved families regarding suspending the grant under your auspices that the filmmakers are supposed to receive, at an amount of NIS150,000."

Atia says awarding the prize is "poking a finger in the red eyes of the bereaved families, who know no rest in dealing with the deaths of their loved ones."

MK Atia asked at the end of the letter: "Do not let this spoil the dozens of good things that Mifal Hapayis is doing for the citizens of the State of Israel."

Mifal Hapayis' intention to award a monetary prize to the film's creators aroused protest among bereaved families who even demonstrated in front of Mifal Hapayis offices demanding the grant be canceled. The protest aroused anger among Mifal Hapayis subscribers and many of them asked to cancel the subscription.

The "Choosing Life" forum of bereaved families, accompanied by the Im Tirtzu movement, said: "The protest that's been growing in recent days plus the cancellation of hundreds of subscribers is a wake-up call to Mifal Hapayis. The sane public doesn't want its money to reach the hands of a filmmaker who chose to glorify the 'terrorist advocate'. The blood of our children isn't worthless. We'll make sure to remind everyone who forgets."

B'Tzalmo Director Shai Glick said: "The money from Mifal Hapayis is intended to help Israeli society, not to glorify those who defend base terrorists, a serious mistake that can still be corrected, since the money has not yet been transferred. We demand that Mifal Hapayis hear the voice of the people and lottery subscribers and cancel the prize grant."

Bereaved families at demonstration (Hebrew): 📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/265086