3 charged with assaulting IDF officer at the Kotel

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Three Israelis were indicted Thursday in a Jerusalem court for assaulting a senior IDF officer at the Western Wall for his support for the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, police said. The three, Yisrael Ariel, 67, Itamar Puzen, 33, and Daniel Alchi, 72, were charged with creating a disturbance in a public place, insulting a public official and taking part in a disturbance, after they allegedly shoved and cursed former OC Manpower Maj. Gen. Elazar Stern at the Jerusalem holy site in October 2005. The three men called Stern a "Nazi" a "criminal," "Hitler" and an "impure" who could not pray at the Wall. Stern, an observant Jew, had come to pray at the Western Wall with his family during the Sabbath, and had to be escorted away from the site by dozens of police and security personnel.