The Height Of Irony - Nadia Matar's Trial Postponed

One of my regular e-mail correspondants is Israeli activist Nadia Matar,the head of the Group Women in Green which opposed the Gaza pull out and opposes turning over any more Israeli land in Judea and Samaria ( AKA the West Bank) to the Arabs.

She's an extraordinarily brave woman who's been at the forefront of protests at places like Amona. Needless to say, this has made her a target for the Olmert government.

She's currently being prosecuted by that government under an obscure 'incitement; statute for a letter she wrote in 2004 that supposedly insulted Disengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi just before the 2005 eviction of Jews from Gaza and Samaria, calling on him to resign.

The relevent part of the letter in question reads:

"The truth is that you are a modern version of the Judenrat - actually, a much worse version, because then, during the Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it is extremely difficult for us, today, to judge them. Today, no one stands with a gun to your head and forces you to collaborate in the crime, without any conscience pangs."

In the rest of the letter, Ms. Matar accurately predicted exactly what would happen after the retreat from Gaza, warning of "the bloody price that we will have to pay for our retreat. If the criminal Oslo accords cost us more than 1,000 victims, Sharon's deportation plan will give such a push to the Nazi Arab terror (for the Arabs will see that Israel's folding is proof that terror pays) that I fear to think how many Jews will pay with their lives for Sharon's 'disengagement'."

In comments about the letter she further predicted that the Israeli retreat from Gaza would lead to "Katyushas and rockets fired from Gaza."

And here's the irony..Nadia Matar's trial for the offense of telling the truth and predicting exactly what happened was postponed today - because the lead government prosecuter was called up for emergency reserve duty with the IDF because of the situation in Gaza!

Matar's attorney, Yoram Sheftel was quick to point out the ridiculousness of the situation:

"Let it be written in the protocol that Attorney [Erez] Padan has been called up for the reserves as a direct result of the fact that his place of work, the Supreme Court, described the expulsion from Gush Katif, against which my client was protesting and for which she now stands trial, as something positive that will improve the security situation of Israel when today we know that it is that expulsion that brought upon us Katyushas in Be'er Sheva, Ashdod and Yavne. That is why Attorney Padan has been called up for reserves and my client is sitting on the bench of the accused."

The case was initially dismissed by Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge David Mintz, who ruled that the law had been applied selectively after hearing examples of incendiary statements by Leftist activists and politicians who were not prosecuted.

However, the State appealed and succeeded in having the case returned to the lower court and the trial is supposed to resume on Thursday, February 19.

The worst thing for some people is to have to admit that they were wrong and someone else they derided was right. Especially politicians...because it might just point out what else they're wrong about.