A few minutes before Yom Kippur, large forces of Border Police raided the outpost community of Ramat Migron in Binyamin, and arrested seven residents for violating a Closed Military Zone order.

The seven were taken to Shaar Binyamin Police Station where they were forced to spend the first hours of the high holiday. They were released at around 11:00 p.m., after being forced to give their fingerprints – an action that is forbidden on the holiday.

The seven held the holiday prayer outside the police station.

Honenu, an organization that assists Jews suspected of nationalist crimes, voiced shock at what it termed the police’s disrespect for the holy day. “On the holies moments for the Nation of Israel, the police are busy chasing after Jews who are making preparations for the holy day, while trampling the sanctity of Yom Kippur, as if this were some high level crime that cannot wait until after the fast, or criminals who might escape and not be located.”

Honenu said that it would take legal and public action “to put whoever ordered the arrest in his place and to make sure that such cases do not recur.”

The Border Police spokesman rejected the accusations and said that all of those arrested were released before the holiday, at Givat Asaf in Binyamin.