By now everyone knows about the storm started by MK Eichler when he stated opposition to a law to crack down on stone throwers because Haredi stone throwers would get arrested because of it.

A reader of this blog (SB) wrote to Eichler expressing his shock about such support, and his hope that Eichler will retract what he said and his stated opposition.

Surprisingly enough, Eichler's assistant actually wrote back!

To be fair, I am repeating here what Eichler responded (via his assistant)..



Basically, Eichler clarifies that he condemns all violent outbreaks at protests. What Eichler opposes is the lack of differentiation in the legal application. To explain, a laconic law condemning a stone thrower to 20 years in prison means that any policeman or judge can accuse an Ethiopian or a Haredi or a right-winger of throwing a stone and then throw him into jail for 20 years. He says the law is comparable to giving 20 years in prison to someone who drove 60kmph on city roads in order to prevent terrorists from using car attacks. The law does not differentiate between people have intent to kill when they throw rocks, and between people protesting that get violent.

He blames the media for skewing his words in their headlines and articles.

The truth is, he does not really change anything from what was quoted, except that he stressed that he condemns violent outbreaks in protests. He even was quoted as saying that in the original, but it was given less importance. He is still saying that haredim who throw stones should not be treated the same.

And, just like it is not ok for a policeman or judge to falsely accuse a haredi or ethiopian or right-winger of throwing a stone in order to throw him in jail for 20 years, it is also wrong for them to do so to an Arab. The law should not allow anyone to be abused like that by the authorities.