Last update - 17:43 27/07/2008
Lawyer seeks police probe into removal, publication of note Obama put in the Western Wall
By Eran Azran, TheMarker Correspondent
Tags: Obama, Western Wall
A Jerusalem lawyer petitioned the attorney general Sunday asking him to order a police investigation into the removal and subsequent publication of a personal note left in a crack of the Western Wall by U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama during his visit to Israel last week.
The presidential hopeful visited the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, at the end of a two-day visit to the region on Thursday. It is believed that requests written on notes and placed between the holy stones of the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, will be granted by God.
Attorney Shahar Alon asked attorney General Menachem Mazuz to launch an investigation against the editor of Israeli daily Ma'ariv, who published the content of the note last week.
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Obama reportedly wrote in the note "Lord - protect my family and me. Forgive my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."
"By making the note public," Alon wrote to Mazuz, "the newspaper violated the law protecting holy sites, several clauses in the penal code and also infringed upon the basic rights of a person's honor and freedom."
Alongside his petition, Alon also initiated a boycott of the newspaper. In a letter he published, Alon called on all those who felt that the newspaper offended them by desecrating the holiness of the Western Wall, or felt that Obama had been personally disrespected, to refrain from purchasing the newspaper or cancel their subscriptions.
In a conversation with TheMarker on Sunday, Alon said "if no one prevents people from opening notes written at the Western Wall, the wall will turn into a marketplace instead of a place for prayer. It is important the Ma'ariv understands that it violated the holy status of the Western Wall. Every person has the right to write a note based on the knowledge that it won't be read by the public."
The boycott will be lifted," Alon went on to say, "after the newspaper publishes a notice, both in Hebrew and in English, apologizing for its lack of sensitivity and for its violation of Senator Obama's privacy and honor."
Ma'ariv issued a response Sunday, saying that "Obama's note was published in Ma'ariv and other international publications following Obama's authorization to make the content of the note public. Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem. Moreover, since Obama is not Jewish, there is no violation of privacy as there would be for a Jewish person who places a note in the Western Wall."
Lawyer seeks police probe into removal, publication of note Obama put in the Western Wall
By Eran Azran, TheMarker Correspondent
Tags: Obama, Western Wall
A Jerusalem lawyer petitioned the attorney general Sunday asking him to order a police investigation into the removal and subsequent publication of a personal note left in a crack of the Western Wall by U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama during his visit to Israel last week.
The presidential hopeful visited the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, at the end of a two-day visit to the region on Thursday. It is believed that requests written on notes and placed between the holy stones of the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, will be granted by God.
Attorney Shahar Alon asked attorney General Menachem Mazuz to launch an investigation against the editor of Israeli daily Ma'ariv, who published the content of the note last week.
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Obama reportedly wrote in the note "Lord - protect my family and me. Forgive my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."
"By making the note public," Alon wrote to Mazuz, "the newspaper violated the law protecting holy sites, several clauses in the penal code and also infringed upon the basic rights of a person's honor and freedom."
Alongside his petition, Alon also initiated a boycott of the newspaper. In a letter he published, Alon called on all those who felt that the newspaper offended them by desecrating the holiness of the Western Wall, or felt that Obama had been personally disrespected, to refrain from purchasing the newspaper or cancel their subscriptions.
In a conversation with TheMarker on Sunday, Alon said "if no one prevents people from opening notes written at the Western Wall, the wall will turn into a marketplace instead of a place for prayer. It is important the Ma'ariv understands that it violated the holy status of the Western Wall. Every person has the right to write a note based on the knowledge that it won't be read by the public."
The boycott will be lifted," Alon went on to say, "after the newspaper publishes a notice, both in Hebrew and in English, apologizing for its lack of sensitivity and for its violation of Senator Obama's privacy and honor."
Ma'ariv issued a response Sunday, saying that "Obama's note was published in Ma'ariv and other international publications following Obama's authorization to make the content of the note public. Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem. Moreover, since Obama is not Jewish, there is no violation of privacy as there would be for a Jewish person who places a note in the Western Wall."