Attorney General Slammed by Supreme Court
There are two topics at the forefront of the public consciousness this week. First, in the realm of diplomacy, Trump’s relationship with Israel has become a major focus of concern; the president’s recent moves have left the Israelis somewhat worried. On the judicial front, meanwhile, the Supreme Court case over the investigation of the military advocate general has kept the country riveted. And that is where we will begin.
I write last week about the fierce conflict between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over the investigation into the Sde Teiman affair. As the case developed, Levin decided to appoint retired judge Asher Kula to oversee the investigation into the Military Advocate General (MAG) due to the attorney general’s conflict of interest. According to the law, when the attorney general is unable to oversee a judicial process, the oversight must be transferred to a jurist who is a state employee; this criterion is essentially met by Kula, who serves as ombudsman of the judiciary. Levin explained that he felt the attorney general should be barred from overseeing the investigation since she would have to be personally questioned as to whether she was aware that the MAG had authorized the leak at the heart of the affair. If she knew about it, then she would be implicated as well, since she was aware of the falsehoods being relayed to the Supreme Court for an entire year. Levin added that she also had a conflict of interest in the affair regardless of whether she would be questioned. Baharav-Miara at first insisted that she did not have a conflict of interest, but then she backtracked and announced that she would transfer the oversight to the state attorney. Nevertheless, the state attorney may also face questioning in the affair. Besides, since the state attorney is subordinate to her, Baharav-Miara’s declaration to the court last week that she had relinquished control over the investigation was not exactly accurate; by appointing her subordinate, she remained involved. Aside from arguing over the details of who would lead the investigation, the attorney general also insisted that Levin had overstepped the bounds of his authority, since the minister of justice, she claimed, does not have the power to revoke her authority.
The conflict found its way to the Supreme Court, which received petitions both against the attorney general and state attorney and against the minister of justice. Last week, the judges asked the justice minister and the attorney general to reach a compromise between themselves over who would oversee the investigation. The two, however, failed to reach an agreement; Levin remained adamant that Judge Asher Kula should oversee the probe, while Baharav-Miara says the responsibility should be transferred to a former Supreme Court justice. On Sunday, the judges issued their ruling: Kula is legally barred from overseeing the investigation, but the justice minister may assign it to someone else. They also wrote that in light of the “unusual and extreme” circumstances of the affair, Justice Minister Levin’s decision to assign the attorney general’s job to an external official was made with the proper authority. The three judges agreed that the attorney general was clearly barred from overseeing or supervising the investigation.
It would be pointless to debate who was the winner in this case; while the court didn’t rule entirely in favor of Levin, the judges definitely dealt a serious blow to the attorney general. For one thing, they took the unequivocal position that she has a conflict of interest in the case, while Baharav-Miara herself disputed this and gave the sense that she was acting beyond the letter of the law by relinquishing control over the investigation. In addition, the judges concluded that the minster of justice has the authority to transfer the investigation to someone outside the judicial system, and they added that in this case it was the proper course of action. Baharav-Miara had asserted that Levin lacked that authority and that he had no reason to transfer the case to anyone else, a position that was rebuffed by the judges.
Leftists Denounce the Court
Perhaps anticipating the court’s decision, Justice Minister Levin spoke about against the judges’ ruling even before they issued it. “No one denies the integrity and professionalism of Justice Asher Kula; why, then, is there anyone who opposes him so strongly?” he asked rhetorically. Levin had his own answer to the question: “There are people who fear the outcome of this investigation, and they know that Judge Kula will not give up on uncovering the truth. There is no excuse that could justify disqualifying Judge Kula. There is no explanation for the fact that Judge Rivlin [in a different case] was able to head a commission of inquiry for two years while serving as ombudsman of the judiciary, but Judge Kula would not be permitted to lead the current investigation. Any ruling that prevents the appointment of Judge Kula, for one reason or another, especially after there has been a proposal to appoint an additional person to oversee the investigation along with him, will mean that the court is enabling a cover-up. It will be incontrovertible evidence that the bizarre conduct of this investigation, and the supreme effort made by Attorney General Baharav-Miara to interfere with it, was intended to prevent the truth from being exposed and to conceal the partners in crime of the former military advocate general.”
Once the judges had their say, the reactions were not long in coming. The petitioners who had challenged the attorney general’s position were triumphant. “The court has accepted our position that the minister of justice holds the sole authority to appoint the official who will oversee the investigation into the MAG,” they announced. “We have no doubt that the minister will appoint a highly qualified figure who will uncover the truth and will bring everyone involved in the crime to justice.”
MK Boaron, one of the petitioners, said, “This isn’t the first or the second time that the Supreme Court has ruled that the attorney general’s position was wrong. This indicates that aside from being a politicized figure, she is also negligent and an amateur.”
MK Simcha Rothman, who is Levin’s partner in everything involved with the judicial reform, likewise released a sharply worded statement against the attorney general.
At the same time, the public figures who usually speak out strongly in defense of the “rule of law” found themselves faltering in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, which seemed to fly in the face of their worldview. The Movement for Quality Government declared, “The Supreme Court’s decision has opened a dangerous door to political intervention in interrogations. The decision to allow the minister of justice, a political figure, to interfere with criminal investigations places us on a dangerous slippery slope, especially since this is a minister who turned the dismantlement of the judicial system and weakening of the rule of law into an avowed objective. Political considerations must not be allowed to penetrate the process of an investigation. We will continue standing guard against any further attempt to harm the independence of the law enforcement system.” An editorial in Haaretz likewise attacked the judges. This is what happens when the court issues a decision that, in a departure from the norm, does not meet with their approval.
America to Sell Planes to the Saudis—At What Price?
Let’s now return to the diplomatic issue that is occupying the public’s attention. Israel is beginning to worry about the United States president. Trump’s coziness with the new president of Syria, who was previously known as an extremist who wouldn’t exactly have qualified as a righteous Gentile, has left many Israelis unsettled. Many are wondering if Trump is about to pressure Israel to make some sort of concession regarding the Golan Heights.
Also concerning is America’s position on the UN Security Council and its proposal to station a permanent international stabilization force in Gaza. Some in Yerushalayim view the American move as proof of the fact that Israel is becoming a client state of the United States and is being corralled into accepting a Palestinian state. They suspect that America is steering Israel onto a one-way road toward a Palestinian state, with no escape once the process has begun. On Friday, the United States released a statement expressing full support for a draft of an agreement signed by eight additional Arab and Muslim states: Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkey. According to the pessimists, this is a very clear sign of the direction the wind is blowing in Washington. The American statement read, “This process offers a pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. We emphasize that this is a sincere effort, and the plan provides a viable path toward peace and stability not only between the Israelis and the Palestinians but for the entire region. We look forward to the swift adoption of the resolution.”
The statement also relates to the visit of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington and his meeting with President Trump and Trump’s decision to sell advanced F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. Trump said he will attempt to persuade bin Salman to join the accords, but the Saudis insist on a formula for the creation of a Palestinian state as a prerequisite for joining the accords. Within Israel’s political establishment, there was some speculation that this might have been the real impetus for Minister Ron Dermer’s resignation, since the push for a Palestinian state has returned to center stage. In addition, the draft of the American resolution contains other clauses that are problematic for Israel. If this process gets underway, it will be the first time since the Oslo Accords that Israel will transfer security responsibility to external forces.
Interestingly, we haven’t heard any reactions from Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich to these events. They are not quitting the government or even threatening to do so. It is possible that Netanyahu reassured them that there is no cause for concern, but that would leave us with the question of exactly what he told them….
Historical Records Highlight Hypocrisy
Haaretz and the Movement for Quality Government, which are known for their hostility to religion and to the right, placed their hypocrisy on full display in their reactions to the judges’ ruling regarding the MAG investigation. But that is not the only evidence of the deep-rooted hypocrisy shaping their positions.
Today, when everything is digitized and one can access any information in a matter of seconds, it is very easy to expose hypocrites. They say that digital archives are the greatest enemies of people such as Yair Lapid and his ilk. No matter what Lapid says, one can almost always find a public record of him having made the exact opposite statement. One news channel (Channel 14, which is viewed as a right-wing outlet) has even launched a daily segment dedicated to Lapid’s reversals, for which they have plenty of material. Lapid’s crony, Yair Golan, who is seeking to win the public’s confidence as head of the Democrats party, recently denounced the recommendation of a public committee to shut down the radio station Galei Tzahal. (Golan is a former major general in the IDF who was severely antagonistic to the right. He is also the same man who claimed not long ago that he was observing processes taking place in Israeli society similar to the events in Germany before the Nazis rose to power.) What Golan would like us all to forget, but what is all too easy for us to find, is the opposite sentiment expressed by his political ally: Just a few years ago, after a similar committee made a similar recommendation, Lapid declared that it would be proper and desirable to shut down Galei Tzahal.
And now there is Haaretz’s editorial. Following President Trump’s letter to President Herzog calling for a pardon for Netanyahu, the Israeli leftist newspaper (which some have nicknamed Dibbas Haaretz) published an op-ed titled, “Trump, Don’t Interfere.” The editors wrote, “The State of Israel is indebted to United States President Donald Trump for his efforts to bring about the release of the hostages from the Gaza strip and to end the war. At the same time, the American president crossed a red line yesterday. Trump’s letter to President Yitzchok Herzog, in which he called for him to pardon Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu, was an act of flagrant interference in the internal affairs of the State of Israel.” In short, the newspaper insisted that Trump’s letter was an improper act that, with all due respect, should be completely ignored.
However, this wasn’t the first time that an American president tried to meddle in Israeli politics. During the period when Israeli society was deeply divided over the judicial reform (or the “destruction of the rule of law,” as some preferred to call it) spearheaded by Justice Minister Levin and the Likud, President Biden expressed concern over the rift created by the actions of the right-wing government. At that time, Haaretz ran an editorial titled “What Biden Says,” where the editors wrote, “There has never been a president in the White House as committed to the State of Israel as Joe Biden. Like all true friends of Israel, he looks at the actions of the government of destruction led by Binyomin Netanyahu, and he is concerned about the country’s fate. Biden fears, and rightly so, that under the most extreme government in Israeli history, as he has called the current regime, relations between Yerushalayim and Washington will suffer irreparable damage. When the president of the United States intervenes in Israel’s internal affairs in an unprecedented manner, it has profound significance that must be internalized.”
I think the blatant hypocrisy revealed by these two articles speaks for itself.
Corruption Scandals Rock the Country
There are two corruption scandals dominating the headlines in Israel today that I still haven’t reported about. The first is the investigation into the leaders of the Histadrut labor union. The Histadrut is the union that the majority of workers in Israel belong to. It is a powerful organization, and no one has the slightest desire to tangle with it—including the government, and certainly the Ministry of Finance. Not long ago, the chairman of the Histadrut decided to shut down the economy to protest Yariv Levin’s proposals to reform the judicial system. This strike, which placed the country’s hospitals on Shabbos mode and shut down the airport and all seaports, caused economic losses to the tune of millions of shekels.
The chairman of the Histadrut, who tried to hold himself out as a paragon of integrity and virtue, was arrested two weeks ago along with dozens of other people, all of them suspected of corruption. When the suspects were brought to court for an extension of their remand, the police investigators told the judge that they had been amazed to discover that hundreds of employees were apparently given fictitious positions in the Histadrut, and that an entire division of the organization, whose function was unclear, seemed to have been created for them. The investigators added, “Every day that we continue to probe and delve into what is happening in the Histadrut, we are digging further into a bottomless pit. Jobs were created for close associates and friends; it is unbelievable that public funds were wasted in this way. There is a concern that some of the individuals involved, who haven’t been questioned yet, might flee the country. We are making gradual progress and reaching everyone who was involved in the layers of corruption. The Histadrut was run like a private business rather than a public organization, and that is what is sad about this affair. Public money has been thrown away for personal corruption.”
The second affair broke last week and was described at the outset as an earthquake within the police force: A senior officer responsible for investigating corruption was questioned by the Department of Internal Police Investigations on suspicion of corruption. On the surface, it is a shocking story. The officer’s identity wasn’t revealed, but the media reported the nature of the allegations: The suspected is accused of intervening in an investigation in which he had a conflict of interest without reporting it, and of taking various actions to influence how the case was handled in his unit. A high-ranking official familiar with the details said that the officer is suspected of assisting a businessman with close ties to him in a sensitive investigation. Last week, the officer was arrested for questioning after attending a workshop for high-ranking officers in the police force. DIPI investigators arrived at the event, waited until it was over, and then asked him to accompany them. He was questioned for over seven hours and then released under restrictions; he was ordered to stay away from police facilities for nine days and was barred from contacting anyone involved in the case. At the end of the interrogation, his police car was confiscated by the DIPI.
Before long, the suspect’s identity was revealed to the public. The officer under suspicion is none other than Chief Superintendent Meni Binyomin, the head of the Lahav 433 fraud investigation unit. Meni Binyomin commands one of the most sensitive units in the police force. In the context of his job, he works together with the head of the investigative division to decide on the appointments of senior officials in the units under his command who are responsible for investigating public cases of corruption, including those involving politicians. The case that Binyomin is suspected of trying to influence hasn’t yet been revealed to the public and hasn’t been fully probed by the police. The suspect himself rejects the accusations of conflict of interest and of breach of trust and abuse of his power. He claims that his relationship with the subject of the investigation was purely professional in nature and that proper documentation was kept regarding the nature of their relationship, with the memos fully entered into the police system.
Binyomin was appointed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, which has given rise to speculation that the investigation was a ploy for revenge against the minister. Ben-Gvir himself has decried it as political persecution and insists that he will not designate a replacement for Meni Binyomin. If his claims turn out to be correct, the story will surely backfire against the police and the DIPI.
Three Deceased Hostages Remain in Gaza
After the body of deceased hostage Meni Goddard was returned to Israel, the number of deceased hostages remaining dropped to three. The three hostages whose bodies remain in Gaza are Dror Ohr, Ran Gvili, and a foreign worker named Sudthisak Rintalak. Goddard was murdered on October 7 during the attack on Kibbutz Beeri, and his body was taken to Gaza by Hamas. His wife, Ayelet, was murdered in the attack as well. Meni and Ayelet were survived by four children and six grandchildren.
Meni Goddard moved to Beeri at the age of 13. He worked at several jobs on the kibbutz, including working at the printing press, managing the hardware shop and kibbutz pool, and serving as the kibbutz’s chief economist. On February 8, 2024, the Goddard family was informed that Meni had been murdered on the morning of October 7, although the security services had estimated even earlier that he had been killed. Eleven people were abducted from Kibbutz Beeri on the morning of October 7. The last resident of Beeri to remain in Hamas captivity is Dror Ohr.
The hostages’ miraculous return from Gaza is yet another demonstration from Shomayim of Hashem’s might and power. Only a fool could remain unmoved by this unmistakable display of hashgocha. Miracles are unfolding before our eyes; however, the beneficiaries of a miracle sometimes do not recognize it. Another example is the story of the military advocate general and her good friend, the attorney general. Anyone who examines these events with an unbiased eye can see that a Supreme Being is miraculously orchestrating the events, just as His guiding Hand is behind the hostages’ return. If events were allowed to run their natural course, the hostages would not have returned. We all know the nature of our enemy; Hamas is a pack of savage creatures who live by the sword and shed blood as a matter of course. Left to their own resources, they would never have given up their captives. But just as Yosef Hatzaddik was rushed out of his dungeon when the time came for him to be freed, a series of miracles took place with lightning speed to turn the situation on its head. First, Trump was elected president of the United States against all odds, and then he decided to join the battle against Hamas with all the force at his disposal. This chain of miracles continued with the release of many hostages and even recently led to the return of the body of Hadar Goldin, which has been awaited by the people of Israel for many years.
On that subject, I must make an observation. Hadar Goldin’s father, Simcha Goldin, who experienced 11 years of torment together with his wife Leah, gave thanks to the soldiers of the IDF and asserted that they were the only ones to thank for his son’s return. This proclamation appeared in the media, and many found it especially grating. Even if we put aside the need to thank Trump and Netanyahu, where is his gratitude to the Master of the Universe? Of course, a person cannot be held accountable for the things he says at such a trying and traumatic moment; however, even at the most painful and confusing times, one must never forget Who is truly managing the world. When the time came for Hadar to return, it was the Creator Who brought him home. As for the soldiers, they are likewise in Hashem’s hands. At a time of Divine concealment, they can easily be rendered as blind as the people of Sodom, who searched in vain for the door to Lot’s home. Try to picture the scene of a group of people groping their way around a house, unable to find the door that is directly in front of them. A human being sees nothing unless Hashem decrees it. Thus, the Torah relates that Hashem opened Hagar’s eyes, and only then did she see the well that was before her. The well had been present all along, but until Hashem opened her eyes, she was unable to perceive it. Likewise, the Israeli army wouldn’t have found Hadar Goldin on its own without Divine assistance. In fact, it has now been reported that the IDF searched constantly for Hadar’s body ever since his abduction, and the soldiers were actually very close to the place where his body was hidden. They searched all the crevices in the ground, except the one place where Hadar’s body was located. It was only now that Hashem decided that he should come home—and now the time has come to give thanks and praise to Hashem for His miracles.
The Attempt to Cancel the Chareidi Vote
Last weekend, the Knesset was the scene of a chilling demonstration of the fact that two distinct nations live in this country, as a bill was advanced that would make the right to vote contingent on military or national service. The bill was presented by MK Oded Forer. “The State of Israel needs soldiers,” Forer declared. “It cannot withstand all of the defensive needs of this country and this people as long as tens of thousands of citizens exempt themselves from military service.”
I did not fret too much about this initiative launched by Yisroel Beiteinu, the party headed by Avigdor Lieberman. Like Yair Lapid, Lieberman talks a lot but does very little. His campaign slogan before the election for the 18th Knesset took aim at the Arabs: “No citizenship without loyalty.” Running on that platform, he managed to win a staggering 15 mandates in the election, but did the disloyal Arabs lose their citizenship? No more than Ismail Haniyeh was dead within 48 hours. That, in fact, was another of Lieberman’s campaign promises: “When I become the minister of defense, Ismail Haniyeh will die within 48 hours.” Well, he became the minister of defense, and Haniyeh did not die, nor did the Arabs lose their citizenship. If Lieberman is a tiger, he is only made of paper.
Oded Forer, unlike his colleagues in Yisroel Beiteinu, isn’t hostile to Judaism. His father, Shuki Forer, who served as mayor of Rechovot for many years, was an accomplished man of many merits who raised his children well. Rav Tzvi Schwartz, the director of Lev L’Achim in Rechovot, could tell many stories about Oded Forer, with whom he has maintained a chavrusah for years. Thus, Forer isn’t driven by hate. When he speaks about drafting the chareidim, it is because he sincerely believes in it. He simply does not understand the benefit that Torah learning brings to the world. This week, I said to him, “Oded, learning Torah is also a way to defend Israel!”
In a tragic show of ignorance, he replied, “Let them learn Torah in the army.”
Minister Gamliel delivered the government’s response. “There is no democratic country in the world where the right to vote for its parliament is contingent on army service,” she said. The same reaction came from many other quarters, including many on the center and the left, to the proposal to deny chareidim the right to vote. This answer is based on the principles of democracy and civics, although the real answer is much more basic: Without the Torah, we would have no country at all. Nevertheless, there is nothing to be gained from shouting at Forer and others like him. The only way to influence them is to engage them in deep, meaningful conversations, as the late Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz used to do, quietly and with great insight. In this case, the bill was soundly defeated in a vote of 69 to 27.
I had the privilege of encountering Rav Yechezkel Eschaik, a highly accomplished man of great insight who was active on behalf of Agudas Yisroel, Degel HaTorah, and Shas. Rav Eschaik is renowned for saving lives in the most literal sense, thanks to his speeches on health issues, his medical advice, and his books on healthy living and quitting the smoking habit. But he is perhaps best known as the right-hand man of the venerable rosh yeshiva Rav Elazar Shach. I asked Rav Eschaik to comment on Rav Shach’s famous statement at a yarchei kallah gathering in 1988: “I am an old man, and I do not even have the strength to stand at a shtender, but I must tell you, on behalf of everyone, that if there is ever a decree about this, I will raise my hand and say, ‘If I forget you, Yerushalayim.’ All of us, all the bnei Torah of Eretz Yisroel, will never forget Yerushalayim, but we will go into exile to prevent the Torah from being forgotten. Let it be known that this is not a children’s game. You can do anything you wish, but it will have no effect on us. Without the Torah, we have no nation.”
Rav Eschaik declined to discuss the matter with me.
The Media’s Subtle Manipulation
There are many more stories of interest this week. For instance, the National Insurance Institute released a report last week that revealed that 27 percent of families in Israel live with nutritional insecurity. That means that food insecurity affects about 900,000 households consisting of 2.6 million people, and that figure includes about a million children, who suffer the effects of malnutrition even more severely than adults. Households suffering from food insecurity do not have consistent access to food, which impairs the quality of the families’ nutrition, disrupts their eating habits, and may have a negative impact on their health and well-being. The report paints a grim picture, even though it indicates a certain measure of improvement since the year 2023, when the nutritional insecurity rate stood at 30 percent. To be clear, nutritional insecurity does not mean that a household definitely lacks food; however, it means that there is no guarantee that the family will be able to feed itself.
I could also write about the weather this week: It rained in Eretz Yisroel on Shabbos, and as usual, everyone was surprised. Bnei Brak looked very much like Venice as the rainwater flooded the streets. One must wonder why the country is taken by surprise every year by the arrival of winter, instead of preparing in advance for the hazards of the inclement weather.
In other news, there were more cases of Jews arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran, which is an absolutely mind-boggling phenomenon. In the most recent case, the suspect was a man whose wife is affiliated with the air force. There are also Arab citizens of Israel who were proven to have joined ISIS, which is also quite frightening.
A Guide Dog in the Knesset
There is an electronic board in the Knesset building that displays information in real time about which members of the Knesset are present in the building. With the press of a button, one can switch between a list of coalition and opposition members and a display of names divided by party affiliation. On one particular day, I found a young man solemnly examining the names on the board, while a guide dog stood beside him. This was fairly puzzling; you would expect such a dog to accompany a blind person, but that made it difficult to account for the fact that the visitor was reading the names.
Later that day, as I was leaving the building, I observed the young man having a conversation with a security guard. After the visitor had left, I asked the guard if he was blind. “Of course not!” the guard replied.
“Then why did he have a guide dog with him?” I asked.
“The dog is for post-traumatic stress disorder,” he replied. If the young man suffered a sudden attack of post-trauma, the dog was trained to calm him.
This is an amazing story, but it is also deeply sad. The number of post-trauma sufferers has ballooned in recent years. Some of these people cannot withstand the emotional pain that plagues them. This week, a police officer passed away after setting himself on fire two weeks ago outside the home of the head of the rehabilitation division of the Ministry of Defense. The 45-year-old retired police officer was diagnosed with PTSD and treated in the rehabilitation division for many years. He was serving as a patrol officer in 2013 and was injured when a mentally disturbed individual threw a rock at his head. That incident led him to be recognized as suffering from post-trauma and to receive disability benefits from the state.
The “Combat Diamonds” forum (“yahalomei krav” in Hebrew, a play on the phrase “halumei krav,” which refers to people suffering from combat trauma) reported, “With profound pain and a deep sense of loss, we take our leave today of a precious fighter who battled indifference with all his might. We would like to embrace the family at this painful time and to tell them clearly that we are all responsible for fighting for his memory. Every day of delay, every form that isn’t signed, and every telephone call that is answered with apathy may cost a human life. His death should be a searing warning sign to Israeli society as a whole, which hasn’t yet internalized the fact that the soldiers’ true valor doesn’t end on the battlefield, that it continues with the daily struggle for their souls, for their homes, and for the right to live with dignity.” As usual, the Ministry of Defense expressed “sorrow” over the death and claimed that the deceased had received everything that he was entitled to get from the state.
In recent years, several PTSD sufferers have set themselves on fire. The most well-known case is that of Itzik Saidian, who committed this act at the office of the rehabilitation division in 2021 to protest their attitude toward combat trauma sufferers. Saidian, who served in Battalion 13 of the Golani Brigade and took part in a fierce battle in Shejaiya during Operation Protective Edge, has since been rehabilitated. Today, he works to help struggling soldiers. I have observed him visiting the Knesset many times, and I mentioned him in my article on Rav Moshe Pincus’s program for wounded soldiers in Tel Hashomer Hospital. At that time, Saidian made a powerful statement to me: “The only thing that will save trauma victims from committing an extreme act is emunah!”
