Rabbi investigated in parade stabbings accuses police of injuring his wife
According to Grossman, a coterie of heavily armed police officers entered his home when he was not present, questioned his wife, and dragged her to their patrol car.
By DANIEL K. EISENBUDJewish settlers (R) scuffle with Israeli police officers near buildings slated for demolition by order of Israel's high court in Beit El(photo credit: REUTERS)
Ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem Rabbi Idan Grossman claimed on Sunday that police injured his wife on Saturday night upon detaining her for questioning in an investigation into the couple’s possible role in the gay pride parade stabbing that wounded five and killed one teenage girl.According to Grossman, a coterie of heavily armed police officers entered his Beit Yisrael home when he was not present to question him about his relationship with Yishai Schlissel, who is accused in the Thursday attack.Grossman, who has organized protests against gay pride parades in the capital in the past, said Saturday is the second instance police have come to his home.Upon determining that the rabbi was not present, officers requested that his wife, Yocheved, accompany them to the local police precinct for questioning. Grossman claimed that when she refused, she was injured as officers dragged her to a patrol car.“I am simply in shock from everything that happened,” Grossman told Walla! News following his wife’s release on Sunday.“I feel that such a thing does not belong in the State of Israel. I want to tell you that anyone who witnessed this isn’t able to sleep at night from what they saw... about a dozen detectives descended on my wife and son – they broke into our home, without a warrant or anything.” On Sunday, police denied that unnecessary force was used during Grossman’s arrest.Meanwhile, the couple’s attorney, far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, claimed that police are violating the civil rights of the city’s anti-gay residents in an effort to “cover up their fiasco” with Schlissel, who was released from prison three weeks before the attack after serving a 10-year prison sentence for stabbing three people during the capital’s 2005 gay pride parade. “It’s not clear why they’re arresting people who oppose the gay pride parade,” said Ben-Gvir. “Is it forbidden to oppose a parade like this?”