ISRAEL — A columnist for Haaretz is being sued for making offensive comments about the Chomesh Yeshiva and its students.
The Yeshiva has now filed a defamation lawsuit against Gideon Levy, asking for half a million NIS in damages. In addition to a series of on-the-record public comments which were demeaning, hateful and anti-religious, Levy published an op-ed that echoed his statements.
Rabbi Elishama Cohen, the Chomesh Rosh Yeshiva, filed the suit along with the yeshiva’s director. In a recent television interview, Levy called the students “subhuman” and accused them of hanging an Arab from a tree and burning his feet, which reportedly never took place.
The lawsuit pointed out that Levy’s accusations are patently false, bigoted and discriminatory. In addition, the term “subhuman” can be traced to Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo.
In an interview on Channel 13, Levy said that “I was in Chomesh several times and saw the people, and I saw how they behave, and I saw a young Palestinian that the Chomesh people hanged on a tree and burned his feet. There are at least 20 documented cases that come from Chomesh, so these people are allowed to be called subhumans … If you are not comfortable with calling them subhuman, let’s call them human scum.”
In an op-ed last week, Levy said: “They’re the scum of the earth. Anyone who snatches a Palestinian teen, abuses him for hours, beats him and kicks him, ties him up under the car’s hood and then finally hangs him from a tree and burns the soles of his feet with a lighter is subhuman. How is it possible to say otherwise?”
As reported by Vos Iz Neias