Judge in 'starving mom' case gets hate mail

Brochure, containing picture of needle dripping blood, decries haredi-bashing in affair.

By DAN IZENBERG
child starving mother with guard 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
child starving mother with guard 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Ravid was sent a copy of a brochure over the weekend whose cover displayed a needle dripping blood and was entitled "Blood Libel on the Accused's Bench? Is it the Mother Who Starved Her Child or all of Haredi Jewry?" the Courts Administration confirmed on Sunday. The brochure reportedly included harsh accusations against the police and the state prosecution. The security department of the Courts Administration lodged a complaint with the police, a police spokesman said afterward. The brochure also contains pictures of all five of the suspect's children including their names, and the names of the prosecutors in the case, Maayan Oren-Rimon and Tal Wisman. Thousands of copies of the brochure have been printed and are circulating in the haredi community, according to the Internet news site Ynet. Neither the police nor the courts' spokesperson would comment on whether special security measures had been taken to protect Ravid. Ravid is due to preside over a hearing on Wednesday to determine what kind of restrictions will be placed on the defendant during her trial. The state has agreed not to ask to remand the woman in custody until the end of the proceedings. However, it wants to place her under house arrest outside of her own home in the Mea She'arim neighborhood on the grounds that police and welfare workers are placed at risk by members of the haredi community when they try to reach her home in that neighborhood. The major question, however, is likely to be whether the woman will be allowed to have her other four children by her side during this period. Originally, the state did not ask that the children be separated from their mother, although they said there were indications that she might have abused two of them, in addition to the three-and-a-half-year-old son she is accused of deliberately starving and causing other kinds of physical harm. Last week, however, the media reported that the Probation Service had recommended keeping the mother away from the other children because she also posed a threat to their well-being.