Bereaved father gets police warning

Police ask Muskal if will make scene at memorial service like did at Kadima rally.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
jp.services1 (photo credit: )
jp.services1
(photo credit: )
Police paid a visit to the bereaved father of IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Rafenael Muscal on Tuesday morning, but rather than reiterating words of condolences, the officers asked the soldier's father if he planned on a repeat performance of last week's heckling of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Moshe Muscal was preeminent last week among a group of hecklers who taunted Olmert at a toast for Kadima activists in advance of the new year, held at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds. Kadima officials later blamed the Likud and the far-Right for the disturbance, during which bereaved parents waved a Golani Brigade flag. Muscal, who called upon Olmert to resign, is a member of the Likud Central Committee.
  • The second Lebanon war: JPost.com special report On Tuesday, police called the Muscal family in their Mazkeret Batya home and asked if they could come over for a talk. Upon arriving, the officers from the Shfela Subdistrict asked Muscal if he planned on "making a similar scene" at Wednesday's ceremony to honor paratroopers killed in action. St.-Sgt. Rafenael Muscal, 21, was killed in action during the war in Lebanon this summer. A senior officer in the Shfela Subdistrict said the visit to the bereaved family was carried out with the "maximum amount of sensitivity" to the family's pain. The officer added that the visit was mainly out of concern for the family's safety following the tumult of last week's incident, and said the police wanted to be able to plan security for the event accordingly. Police added that they hoped Muscal would take into consideration that not all of the bereaved families at the ceremony would share his political views. Muscal said Tuesday in response to the police visit that he differentiated between a memorial ceremony held for bereaved families and a joyous event for the Kadima Party. Both IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Amir Peretz are expected to attend Wednesday's ceremony.