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Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter: cops not to blame, yeshiva is
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| By Israel Insider staff March 12, 2008 |
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Even as Public Security Minister Avi Dichter instructed police on Wednesday to demolish the house belonging to the family of the Jerusalem Arab terrorist who gunned down eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem last Thursday, he was preparing the legal justification for doing nothing. The house is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Following the order, police asked the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of demolition, and to examine as well the alternative option of sealing the house.
Speaking at the Knesset, and referring to the possibility that the family's home would be torn down, Dichter said "the demolition of any home, particularly in Jerusalem, requires several legal examinations. I hope that eventually the justice system will allow such a move, but without its authorization we cannot carry it out." He also said that police could not destroy the mourning tent erected for the terrorist since the tent did not break the law, and "thus no [law] enforcement is needed."
"I don't suppose the MKs want to live according to Jordanian law," he said, referring to Jordan's refusal last week to allow Abu Dhaim's family in Amman to erect a public mourning tent for him there. Jordan also prohibited the flying of Hamas and Hezbollah flag, but Israeli police allowed them to fly for nearly two days before asking for their removal under intense criticism and ridicule by Israeli officials and the general public.
Dichter maintained that the police are acting according to authorized legal opinions, and not according to their desires and wishes. "Law enforcement is needed when the law is violated. The mourning tent was not taken down because according to the law it cannot be destroyed. I do not recommend interpreting the word 'identification' [with terror] in any other way than the law allows."
Police appealed to the Defense Ministry in order to verify what legal steps must be put into place in order to allow the demolition.
According to the minister, eight of the terrorist's relatives were questioned after Hamas and Hizbullah flags were diplayed outside the family home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. He added that some of them are still in custody. "The (terrorist's) father denied having any connection to the flags and worked to have them taken down immediately," Dichter said.
Dichter's reconstruction of the scene appeared disingenuous. "A civilian in possession of a licensed gun [Yitzhak Dadon, a yeshiva student] and an IDF officer [Capt. David Shapira] who was dispatched to the scene shot the terrorist; police officers who arrived later also opened fire at him, Dichter said. His comment was odd, given that witnesses had said that Shapira "emptied his cartridge" into the terrorist. So the police shot him after he was already dead? And Shapira's own account said he was not "dispatched" but went of his own volition and had to request a hat from a policeman at the door, afraid to enter, in order not to be mistaken for a terrorist.
Rather than criticize the failures of police, Dichter blamed the lax security of the yeshiva. "According to the investigation, the entrance to the seminary from Ben Dor street, was neither locked nor secure, allowing the terrorist to enter freely. During the incident a security guard was positioned at the youth yeshiva, located two floors up and on the other side of the complex."
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