Father Of Bride At Wedding Disrupted By Police Is From Terror-Stricken Family

GIVAT ZEEV (VINnews) — Rabbi Uri Pollack, the father of the bride at the private wedding disrupted by police Wednesday night, is a well-known Talmid Chacham who studied previously at the Ohr Hachaim yeshiva. He is also from a terror-stricken family: In 1983 two of his sisters, Nurit and Esther were murdered in a Jerusalem bus bombing.

The mother of the bride described her feelings after the traumatic events of the previous night: “I didn’t sleep all night, we are traumatized, I couldn’t fall asleep. All my children were bleeding. There weren’t tens of participants. Only my children were in the house and my grandchildren. The Chupah was very low-key the rabbi officiating was there with a few other rabbis and one or two neighbors. After the Chupah people who I didn’t know began arriving.

Pollack said that she has 13 children and that she did not let other people enter but that after the chupah a few people arrived “but not tens of people as claimed by police. One of the neighbors must have complained. We are not violent people, we like doing good, this is a house accepting of all of the people of Israel, a house of kindness which welcomes guests. There was no violence, they did this to my son, they took a glass bottle and threw it in his face. I saw this and it is on video.”

The brother of the bride referred to the fact that the festivities continued after police left: “Despite everything we wanted to make the bride and groom happy after they cried for so long at their wedding. I want to stress that only the nuclear family was here (at the chupah). The most important thing is to preserve lives. Its a pity that they ruined the wedding.”

Batsheva Pollack, a sister of the bride, said in a radio interview that “the police did there jobs, but one of them came in and took pictures on her private telephone, not a police telephone. She entered a private house and took videos which I’m not sure is permitted without authorization. My mother pushed the camera, she didn’t push her or spit on her as claimed. The policewoman pushed my mother, definitely. It’s amazing how things are distorted.

“The policewoman did not then speak with my mother, she just went outside and summoned six police vans, including border police and claimed that “there is violence being perpetrated to a policewoman.”

Batsheva also stressed that “we did everything according to regulations. I don’t know what you saw in clips and what police came and claimed. We did the event, we put my brother at the entrance (to stop strangers), this is a nuclear family. We are 13 children, ok? We have two courtyards, one in the front and one in the back.

Batsheva added that “I’m not religious and I want you to know that for the first time in my life I saw real hatred towards chareidim, this was all because they are chareidi.”

She added that after police left the Kallah ran outside, fainted and vomited “but we didn’t give up and we brought her back in. All the clips from afterwards are other people who came to show support for the couple. The whole affair could have ended in a more respectable manner. I can say that an entire family has suffered an injustice, I have a special needs sister, my younger siblings were all traumatized, they sat up until 4 in the morning and refused to go to sleep.”