Mordechai Shoshan, Released After 14 Months in Israeli Prison, Tells a Harrowing Tale of Torture.
Mordechai Shoshan, a resident of Beis Shemesh, father of ten children, was imprisoned for the crime of attempted to prevent the arrest of his son, who has been taking part in a protest against forced conscription into the Israeli army.
He spent 14 months in prison, and was released on January 30, 2018.
On January 31, a huge welcoming celebration took place in Beis Shemesh, where prominent rabbis gave speeches. As the crowd’s happiness reached its peak, the hundreds of people began to dance in the streets. At one point, Rabbi Binyomin Friedman, who was also recently released after serving a prison sentence for similar charges, lifted up Shoshan onto his shoulders and danced for joy.
Shoshan himself addressed the gathering, and related his own experiences in prison, including one instance in which Zionist officers shockingly tortured him as punishment for disregarding the rules of Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day for Israeli soldiers. The rule in the State of Israel is that when the siren blares on this day, everyone must stop what he is doing and observe a moment of silence. Anti-Zionist Jews often make a point of continuing to walk and behave normally during the siren, to show that they do not see the fallen soldiers as heroes but as unfortunate casualties of a state created in defiance of the command of G-d.
It is interesting to note that throughout Shoshan’s lengthy prison term, his so-called crime of disregarding the siren was never brought up in court, probably because the police preferred not to raise the subject, knowing that they had overreacted and probably would be prosecuted for what they had done to Shoshan.
The following is the transcription (translated from Hebrew) of the story he told:
You asked me if I could tell about what happened to me inside the prison walls. I want to say only one thing: That from the day that I entered the prison building until the last day, I was in a state of readiness to fight, a state of war. I had to fight in order not to, Heaven forbid, get mixed up by the ideas of the heretics; not, Heaven forbid, to come closer to them. It was a difficult battle, a battle of the soul - more than just a physical battle, but a battle deep in my heart.
One of the things that happened was that on Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) at 11:00, the time when the sirens go off and everyone has to stand still. There is a library there, and there are groups of people sitting in the library. There is a big courtyard by the exit and there are Zionist flags there. The entire staff came, commanders, officers, guards, sergeants, all stood there and bowed to the flag. During the siren they forgot one thing: they forgot to close the door of the library. According to the rules, they are never allowed to do that. Some of the prisoners were standing with them and also stood still during the siren. So, I said, with the help of G-d, now is the time to sanctify His name in public.
As it started to sound, I took a religious book that I had in my hand and I went out to the courtyard and started to walk toward the stage that they prepared for the festive meal in honor of Memorial Day. I’m looking at the officers and guards and I see them gnashing their teeth, they’re getting heated and angry: oh no, someone is coming to desecrate the "holy" Memorial Day. What a scandal. A siren for them is the highest level of holiness. I’m watching their faces and they’re gnashing their teeth, but they can’t move. Then I go, and made a loud noise with my shoes, it’s making a lot of noise and I’m watching them get angry and gnash their teeth, they almost broke their teeth, you hear that scratching. Everyone’s grunting to themselves, as if to say: “I can’t hold back, I’m going to pounce on him soon.” But I circle around and I’m making noise with my shoes, and they, over there, oy! A little more and they will burst. I said to myself, I only hope they don’t file a few cases against me. I come back from the stage and they’re still standing there, I went back into the library room and all the people inside tell me: what happened to you? Did you go crazy? All the prisoners there were trembling.
Now, I wasn’t expecting what happened next. I thought the most they’ll do is take me into a separate cell, to solitary confinement. I thought maybe, at the very worst, maybe solitary confinement for a week. That’s it, not so bad, it was worth it to sanctify G-d’s name and weaken the Zionist idol. As I was going into the library, the siren ended. I saw behind me two officers, and they pulled me out cruelly. I wasn’t surprised, I knew this was going to happen all the time. They kicked and punched me, but I was ready for it, for the honor of G-d. Then they reached the courtyard entrance, and there are a few cages there, they put me into a cage and I thought, what are they doing to me? At worst they’re going to lock me in here. They looked around, there are no cameras, nobody is looking, the courtyard gate is closed, and then... my ribs were broken, my head was swollen! They tried to make my injuries look like an accident, as if they happened unintentionally, while they kicked me from all sides! For the honor of G-d my ribs were broken, for the honor of G-d my head swollen, but the words they shouted at me were shocking. They had such words in their mouths: "You do this to our soldiers?! We will kill you!" So I say to the officers: Your soldiers died, they were Jews, but you turned them into heretics, you, with your hands. They feel sorry for the dead, but for the living they are cruel and crush them down to the ground.
They threw me down there and left me lying there in pain for two hours, I was lying there on a bench, for the honor of G-d. They thought, maybe Mordechai will say “I’m sorry”, but that would happen only in their dreams, not in real life. After two hours, an Arab officer comes in and says to me: we’re taking you to the clinic, to check what happened to you. Now, I definitely understood their trick. They had sent him to find out if I was planning to file charges against them, to see what I would say. So then, I said to him on the way, listen! I don’t plan to file charges against them. Tell them, maybe they made a mistake, I don’t know what’s in their mind, but give them the message that I don’t plan to file charges. I knew from the start that if I showed an intention to file charges against them, they would charge me with all sorts of false accusations and lies. They have the ability to do that, they are liars and cheaters, there’s no one like them in the world, especially if you’re already in their hands, like an officer once told me: “Listen, we are always right!” When you are in their hands, they are always right.
They took me to the clinic, and that was when they started making a joke out of me. I told the man at the clinic: please check me here, check me there. The officer says: you committed a crime and now you want to benefit? Meaning, you want to press charges? I said to him, no, no, I only want a check-up, check here, take an x-ray. And he says: it doesn’t look broken, nothing’s there, you’re fine and then he sends me to the doctor. I tell the doctor, my ribs are broken, order me an x-ray. Then he says to me, why do you need to do that? Even if it is broken it won’t help you, you can’t put a cast on the ribs. True, I said, but I still want an x-ray. He said it’s not worth it. I said to him, don’t worry, I don’t plan on filing charges, give them a message that all I want is to check my health. So he wrote a referral for an x-ray. Amazing, after such a story, to bring a prisoner back to the cell. There’s nothing like it in the world! They let him wait. They knew they were wrong, but Mordechai wasn’t planning to file charges. They paid no attention and they brought me back to the cell.
Okay. A month and a half later my appointment for the x-ray comes, the guard tells me to go down to take the x-ray. I go down, but there are no guards available to accompany me to the x-ray. That means, they didn’t take any x-ray. Another month goes by, so now it’s been two and a half months, everything is already healed up inside, that’s what I thought and now they’re taking me for an x-ray, now it’s just a joke. So, I come to the x-ray, I’m standing there and I tell him take an x-ray of my ribs. He says to me, no, no, I’m taking an x-ray of your shoulder. I tell him, the ribs, not the shoulder. He says to me, I received orders from above and I can’t disobey my orders. So he took an x-ray of my shoulder. Liars, unbelievable liars they are, cheaters like none in the world. I came back, all the prisoners laughed at how the police lie. That’s the end of my story, which I’ve never told it to anyone, even on the telephone, because I knew that the phones are bugged and if they hear this, they’ll throw me into the Arab division. They know how to make wounded people suffer.
That’s the end of my story.
