The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has sent a legal warning to the Ateret Shlomo yeshiva in Beit Shemesh, accusing it of “cynical, degrading, and unlawful use” of the Forum’s campaign symbols and materials.
The letter, sent by attorney Asa Kling, head of the intellectual property department at the Naschitz, Brandes, Amir law firm, claims the yeshiva used the movement’s designs, slogans, posters, and the signature yellow ribbon identified with the Families Forum campaign without permission, in a manner constituting copyright and trademark infringement, deception, misrepresentation, and exploitation of the forum’s reputation for political and propaganda purposes.
The forum demands that the yeshiva immediately cease all use of its materials affiliated with the Families Forum campaign, provide a written commitment not to repeat its violations of the Forum’s intellectual property, publicly apologize to the families of the hostages, and pay NIS 400,000 in compensation.
“We call for the symbols to be returned to their rightful place-as emblems of hope, unity, and the struggle to bring back the hostages held by a cruel enemy, for burial in the land of Israel,” the Forum stated.
The warning followed a protest held by students of the haredi Ateret Shlomo school network outside Prison 10 against the draft law and arrests of draft-dodgers. During the protest, the students wore yellow hats and carried yellow balloons, both symbols strongly associated with the hostage campaign.
Rabbi Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, head of Ateret Shlomo, in which recently-arrested Ariel Shamai studies, responded: “They come to us with claims that we are using the hostages symbols – but Ariel was uprooted from his home. Today they complain to us. The hostages are ours too. We studied for them. We performed great miracles for them so they were released from captivity. We don’t want to hurt anyone, but we want you to understand that disconnecting us from Torah is like removing oxygen from a patient. You’re fighting over power; we’re fighting for the world of Torah.”