In the video: Olga, mother of Alina Palkheti, who was murdered at a party and buried outside the fence at the Aliyah Committee hearing, November 13, 2023/Knesset Channel
The Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee held a discussion Monday morning on speeding up conversion procedures for recruits in the "Iron Swords" war. Committee Chairman MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu) opened the discussion with the story of the late Alina Palkheti, a young girl of 21 at the time of her death, who only wanted to dance and was murdered at a party in Reim. "For three weeks she was declared missing and the family did not know whether she was murdered or kidnapped. Until finally the tragic news of her death reached them. Alina was buried outside the Beit She'an cemetery - because she did not complete the conversion procedures in which she began."
Forer added: "Alina was buried outside the fence and I am ashamed on behalf of the State of Israel and I apologize for how she was treated. This is exactly the opposite of what being Jewish seems to me. The goal of this discussion is to reach an outline that will no longer allow cases in which we kill the dead a second time."
Olga, Alina's mother, attended the hearing and said in a choked voice: "I believe in God. It hurts me the most that during our most difficult time, the behavior towards us was not good. Alina was murdered as a Jew. None of the terrorists looked to see who was Christian and who was Jewish. Our children were murdered together. I'm here so we don't repeat the same mistakes. It hurts. Alina was burned. They wouldn't let me identify her. I couldn't give her one last hug and it hurts. Even in the obituary, they didn't write that we were sitting shiva, but wrote that we were 'receiving guests.'" Chairman Forer was shocked by the remarks and said, "I am ashamed on behalf of the State of Israel that this is how you were treated."
"Alina was burned. They wouldn't let me identify her. I couldn't give her one last hug"/documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law
MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) also joined his shock, saying: "I apologize on behalf of all of Judaism. This is not the Judaism we are part of. Not our children's or our grandchildren's. That's not my Judaism. It is a cruel and harsh Judaism that distances us from the desire to be proud Jews. We encountered people who wanted to be Jews and buried them inside the fence. We found solutions even for those who didn't express their opinions." At this point, Chairman Forer suggested: "Maybe the fence should be demolished." MK Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu) added: "What happened on October 7 is not only the collapse of the security concept, but also the halachic concept. If we don't internalize this, after it's all over, we'll fall apart from within. If you want to be part of the people and the country, you can't stay with the old concepts."
Rabbi Chaim Amsalem, a former Shas MK who attended the hearing, said that the injustice bordered on crime, scandal. "There are no words that can describe this very wrong thing." The chairman turned to Lt. Col. (res.) Gal Shemtov, responsible for burial of fallen soldiers and a representative of the Ministry of Religious Services, at the discussion and asked why civilians are not treated the way soldiers are treated. Shem Tov replied: "The issue of burial is a halachic issue." MK Forer pressed: "Does the IDF act contrary to Jewish law?" to which Shem Tov replied: "There is an official body that behaves in one way and there is another. The religious council in each locality is subordinate to the rabbi of the local council."
Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss, a member of the Chief Rabbinate's Committee for the Honor of the Dead, addressed the issue, saying: "I came to try to reach understandings. The Chief Rabbinate establishes halacha for the State of Israel. If cases come to them, they find a way to solve problems. Perhaps this has not reached Rishon LeZion's doorstep and I will suggest to the Rabbinate that they appoint a representative who will find solutions so that there will be no such great sorrow. I know that they did not differentiate between Jews and non-Jews in this brutal attack. We can do anything through halacha."
Forer replied: "Alina's family, for example, doesn't have to look for solutions, and it has to go down from the Chief Rabbinate to the rabbis of the cities and from there to every rabbi in every neighborhood." Rabbi Weiss insisted: "So there was a screw up in one place. Make people feel like they're not being treated right. They keep saying blasphemy and crime." Forer replied: "Such an injury, even to one family, is severe. I ask that this be a directive that will descend from the Chief Rabbi to every single rabbi. Raise issues. Jewish law knows how to solve problems."
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"Whoever sanctified the land of Israel with his blood, immigrated here and left his place in the Diaspora - I want to be buried next to him, even if it means being buried outside the fence." MK Forer in the discussion/Knesset Spokesperson's Office, Danny Shem Tov
"If you don't change the borders, the people will blow up your borders."
Rabbi Ido Pachter, who accompanied Alina's family, told Rabbi Weiss that he thought the Rabbinate should apologize to Olga. "When I spoke to her, I apologized on behalf of civil society. I don't think Knesset members will succeed in changing halachic positions, and the Chief Rabbinate has no authority over city rabbis." Rabbi Chaim Weisberg, chief rabbinate in the IDF, said that phenomena as discussed do not exist in the IDF: "We fight together and are buried together. There is no burial outside the fence."
Malinovsky told IDF representatives that "there are now 7,000 recruits who are not halachically Jewish. The very fact that a person enlisted in the IDF is in the eyes of Judaism and he is willing to die for the country. Don't wait to be asked to convert. Suggest and address the soldiers. Just as canopies can be done in gathering areas, everything is a question of will. As for the Chief Rabbinate, if you don't change the boundaries on conversion and burial, the people will blow up your borders. Today we ask you to do so, and we will demand it later."
The Kapshitter family was massacred on their way home to Beersheba - the father was buried outside the fence / courtesy of the family, without
MK Forer also told the story of the Kapshiter family - father Jenia (Evgeni), mother Dina and their two children, 8-year-old Elin and 5-year-old Eitan. "The family went camping in Ashkelon and when the shooting started, they were massacred on their way home to Beersheba by the terrorists. The family was located not separately, and in this case the father was buried outside the fence of the cemetery in Dimona. The remaining members of the family, the grandparents, decided that the rest of the family would also be buried next to the father, even though they were entitled to be buried inside the cemetery - they were buried next to him. In cases of victims of hostilities, there must be a change in policy and adaptation of the halacha of military burial to civilian law."
Forer further told the discussion participants: "We are doing the greatest disgrace to those who fell defending Israel and do not meet these and other conditions. Whoever sanctified the land of Israel with his blood, immigrated here and left his place in the Diaspora - I want to be buried next to him, even if it means being buried outside the fence. There is no greater degradation of the dead. The Sages said that sitting in the Land of Israel was equivalent to the entire Torah. Many soldiers who are in the conversion process ask themselves - what if something happens to me and this 'if' happens. There is a 20% increase in requests for conversion, and we see a gap between military and civilian law. I have seen places and rabbis who understand this and know how to find solutions for those murdered in hostile attacks.
Forer summarized the discussion: "There is before Simchat Torah and there is after it as far as the people of Israel are concerned. Let it be clear that whoever chose to tie his fate with the Jewish people, whoever is here in Israel to fight for our right to live here, my demand is to go towards him, this is the time to enlighten and embrace."
During the discussion, the families of the abductees who attended the discussion turned to the Knesset members and asked them to support any outline and arrangement that will be brought to the Knesset regarding the abductees. "We are here today to fight for the lives of those who are in Gaza. To discuss the dead and any other issue – there will be time after we bring the hostages home."
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