HALF A YEAR ON, DUMA 'SUSPECT' FOUND INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES
by Orli Harari
Lawyers fuming after Shin Bet finally admit youth leader with outstanding national service was detained for no reason whatsoever.
BACKGROUND On July 31, 2015, the Saad Dawabsheh home in the Arab village of Duma was firebombed, killing an 18-month baby and fatally injuring his parents. Religious Jewish settlers were immediately suspected and various teens and young adults were incarcerated and questioned under duress; others were placed under house arrest. Arabs were never investigated, despite the fact that the Dawabsheh clan had been feuding with another clan in the village for years and there's been a later fire at the home of another Dawabsheh clan member. Clumsy graffiti written in Hebrew ludicrously pointed to Jewish authorship. The arsonists — two according to 'eye witnesses' — managed to gain entry and walk way into the middle of the village, where they set two houses on fire, the first of which was empty. They stuck around long enough to make sure the fire was working, firebombed the second house, wrote the graffiti and left without being hacked to death by villagers who were sufficiently awake to see the parents in flames outside their house and masked men (plural) fleeing. Afterwards, as if to underscore how evil the settler are, the news media were given a video by Shabak of several guests at a Jewish wedding stabbing the photo of a toddler, said to be that of the burnt baby -- but neither the bride's family or the groom's family knew these 'guests,' who disappeared after the video was shot.
Jewish teenagers and young adults were held in isolation and illegally interrogated, either stressfully or by torture, and in violation of their religious practices. The Israel Security Agency (ISA, aka Shabak) and senior members of IDF reassured the media that the youngsters were guilty, but no evidence was adduced. Finally, on January 3, 2016, Amiram Ben-Uliel and a minor were indicated as responsible for the murder. He later described how he was beaten, threatened, kept awake, prevented from seeing his lawyer, and tortured until he falsely confessed. When it became possible, he retracted his confession. The minor, Netanel Furkowitz, was released as innocent July 16, 2016. News of the aftermath has not been forthcoming.
Half a year after he was arrested by the Shin Bet security services, interrogated for days, and accused of being a "Jewish terrorist," Israel's prosecution service has confirmed what Netanel Furkowitz's defense team have said all along: that the youth leader from the Samaria community of Kochav Hashachar is innocent of any wrongdoing, and had no connection whatsoever to the deadly arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma last summer.
Responding to a petition from Attorney Adi Kedar of the Honenu legal rights organization, the prosecution said they had officially closed their investigation into Furkowitz, due to lack of evidence.
Furkowitz — who received an award for excellence from the president during his military service, and who had no criminal record — was arrested while on IDF reserve duty last year.
The youth leader ran an Education Ministry-sponsored program training Jewish shepherds and was well known for his positive work with local "hilltop youth", aiding many young Israelis from troubled backgrounds to gain steady employment and get their lives back on track.
He was held for 12 days without charge by the Shin Bet, who accused him of involvement in the deadly arson attack which killed three members of the Dawabshe family in 2015. Investigators claimed he had rented out a car to a youth from the Shiloh region who was suspected of involvement in the arson, and further claimed he knew full well of the suspect's involvement in the attack.
Despite Furkowitz's repeated protestations of innocence — including pointing out his public record of speaking out against "price tag" attacks — went ignored, and authorities repeatedly extended his detention on the basis of supposed "secret information" which was never revealed to his lawyers.
It was later determined by investigators that the prime suspect in the arson — Amiram Ben-Uliel — carried out the attack alone, and reached Duma by foot, not by car. More damning still, the Shin Bet eventually admitted that the youth who bought the vehicle in question from Furkowitz was not at all involved in the arson either. He, too, was released after 21 days in custody, which included the use of violent "extraordinary interrogation" techniques.
Attorney Adi Kedar condemned the conduct of authorities in the case. The treatment of his suspect "should keep citizens up at night — particularly residents of Judea and Samaria, who can for fabricated reasons find themselves... detained under harsh conditions, all just to serve the purposes of the Shin Ben, who knew full well that he was not involved or suspected in carrying out the crime," said Kedar.
Honenu CEO Shmuel Medad, who supported Furkowitz and his family throughout their ordeal, added: "The question is, why?"
"Why were the (security) institutions so cruel to their own brothers; to their own soldiers and citizens?" he asked.
"And the bigger question is how should we, the public, respond? How can we stop this?"
EDITOR'S NOTE:
These are some of the comments that appeared with the original article and added useful information. They were all posted June 19, 2016.
Avraham Goodman Next time politicians should keep their mouths shut until all the evidence is in. |
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Eliezer Roeh Ohr BS"D Good Question! WE NEED A CONSTITUTION WITH GUARANTEED RIGHTS TO AN ATTORNEY AND HABEUS CORPUS AND A REQUIREMENT THAT NO ONE BE HELD UNLESS SPECIFIC CHARGES ARE BROUGHT AGAINST THEM IN OPEN COURT WITH THE FULL RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE WITH A MANDATORY RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL! |
Ray OfLight Theoretically, yes - but a bit utopian. More pragmatically, baby steps like holding shin bet cowboys to more basic accountablility would help a great deal. |
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Lar Cotral Heads should roll on this miscarriage of justice. Every person from Ya'Ayawn and down who went on a witch hunt and approved torture should be convicted of many crimes, a principle one being, abuse of authority. there should be law suits that will impact the true perpetrators of civil rights abuse. The Supreme court in its consistent abuse of religious and zionist Jews should also be disbanded - due to their complicity in this political crime. enough is enough! furthermore, our great security structures while trying to maintian the 'tale' of 'pinning ' the crime on the hill toppers, should be b rought to justice for this major failure of not finding the true culprits and chasing shadows. This entire episode is a national disgrace and we must prevent the authorities of sweeping the injustice under the carpet. |
Philip Rand Get rid of the old Leftists running Shin Bet. Leftists should have no authority over settlers, who they hate whether they break any laws or not. Hating settlers is their default position. The residents of Judea and Samarea are the cream of Israeli society, our very best. May God bless them. They are Israel's heroes, and one day will be recognized as such by all our citizens. |
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No Postmodernism Hello Ray OfLight "prejudging and jumping to conclusions" There is no "prejudging and jumping to conclusions" here. It is not just a one-sided narrative any more, as both the defense and the prosecution now stipulate that the youth is "innocent"; which - unlike saying 'not guilty' - is absolutely conclusive. |
David Conley nice...and Israel wants people to make aliyah to be subject to this kind of treatment. The old socialist ways die hard; stalin would be proud of the shin bet |
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Sarah Esther
That's how they entertain themselves. Romans used to throw Jews into a ring with wild animals and cheer. Leftists today throw religious zionists to the Shin Bet. Why this happened? Because the leftist Shin Bet and Ya'alon can't STAND squeaky clean religious Jews. Change will only happen if the authorities involved are sued for an amout that REALLY HURTS. Measure for measure. |
These Comments were in response to the article when it appeared in
IsraPundit, June 19, 2016:
SHmuel HaLevi 2, June 19, 2016 As we informed out of awareness, information and deductions, the Duma arson was a well organized provocation act with tragic consequences. Quite likely the product of a combination of "work" by Hamas and PLO services and the Jewish Sektion. So far only one suspect is still set up by the Shin Bet. The renegade unJews favored by Weinstein tortured those Jews they set upon. Out of the disgraces led by Ya'alon shrill declarations, little if anything remain credible. Their infamous, insolent accusations have been proven again a sham. Those sections involved must be dismantled and the involved brought to trial in NEWLY elected courts. |
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Bernard Ross, June 20, 2016 the low life yaalon should be in jail for having abused his power to lock up innocent people with no evidence, knowing likely that they were innocent. I do not understand why Israelis dont demand that he be investigated and tried for abuse of authority and false incarceration. He should be made to be in administrative detention and subject to vigorous questioning until he admits his crimes. He has done the same to the soldier... no one can trust that cabal of commanders at the top who turned on their troops in the field at the command of their leader yaalon. I would not want any of them at my back. Herzog agreed to '67 lines in talks with Abbas, report says: In
negotiations with PA leader ahead of 2015 elections, envoy for
prospective PM learned a deal was possible 'on everything'
Isaac Herzog spokesman calls settlers 'murderers,' apologizes.
Opposition leader disavows Ofer Newman's post accusing West Bank
Israelis of building swimming pools 'on the blood of murdered
children'
these are the types of filthy low lives that hang around herzog like flies to horseshit. They sound just like the murdering muslims.... low life scum. It must be difficult to fight in an army to protect the lives of such traitorous scum. Hebron soldier's commander threatened online for testifying:
Police detain, release settler for 'incitement to violence'; IDF chief calls Maj. Tom Na'aman to express support
a settler is arrested for incitement while the criminal yaalon still walks free after inciting all the revenge stabbings of Jews with his false global declaration that jews burned a baby at duma with no evidence... an arrogant criminal who calls his crimes "ethics". I feel confident that the commander heeded yaalons instructions to find the soldier guilty which yaalon proclaimed for all the world to hear... yaalon should be jailed, he is a criminal. |
SHmuel HaLevi 2, June 20, 2016 @ bernard ross: It is a natural that the Dayan, Hertzog, Weitzman and all, "dynasty"... to include other low life forms such as livni, ben ami, burg, weinstein etc. Naturally the "paint ball" and "rubber bullet" generalitos belong there as well. barak, halutz, ya'alon being just a few of such trash. Indeed we do not need islamic enemies, there is enough home grown filth such as the above to destroy the Jewish state and heritage. |
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bernard ross, June 20, 2016 @ SHmuel HaLevi 2 that may explain this:
IDF leaders defend officer testifying in Elor Azariya trial
It appears that these outspoken officers also defended Yaalon declaring the soldier guilty prior to the commencement of an investigation. Where were these moralists when their commander commanded them to find the soldier guilty before an investigation? where were these outspoken IDF leaders when their soldier under them was declared guilty by their commanding officer. Why didnt they open their closed mouths then? They are part of the crime... the crime whereby a defense minister abused the authority of his position and declared in public his desire to see a guilty verdict delivered by his military subordinates: the investigators, the prosecutors the judges... all under yaalons command. How can anyone take them seriously, they betrayed the rank and file soldier and rubber stamped their commanders crime. Despicable creatures! |
SHmuel HaLevi 2, June 20, 2016 @ bernard ross: As a form of background let me say... I am a former IDF soldier decorated, "OT LEBANON" after the Lebanon War. I am probably still listed as an Invited Consultant to the Israel Ministry of Defence. Previously I was ranked as a Senior-Fellow Engineer US Department of Defense Military Avionics Programs. I know military organizations and rank and file soldiering. POINT BLANK... After Oslo the formerly credible, to an extent, Israeli command, was turned into a melange of unJewish hatched trash. They have destroyed the fighting doctrine, intentionally. Sabotaged, undermined and betrayed soldiers. And us all... I was in my town during the Lebanon II war which was run by Olmert, Halutz, Peretz and other such luminaries, including livni. Ir was a veritable shambles... Never got any better after. Only a system wide plowing under of senior commanders and staffers may save us from more and more failures. |
Orli Harari is a writer for Arutz-Sheva, Israel National News.
This article appeared in Arutz-Sheva June 19, 2016 and is archived at
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/213799.
Thanks are due Ted Belman of IsraPundit for sending this article
to Think-Israel.
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