בס"ד
אל המקום אשר...
חה"כ סון הר מלך: "כיצד הפך ליבנו גס כל כך בנערי הגבעות?"
Translation:
*MK Sivan Har Melech: "How did our hearts become so brutal towards the hilltop youth?"*
Member of Knesset Limor Sivan
Har Melech told about the visit she made to one of the wounded and addressed the members of the Knesset from the Knesset podium with a call not to let the shooting of the boys be covered up by the investigative bodies.
"Last Thursday, I stood by the bed of Yedidya Yaakov in the hospital. He recognized me immediately, and in his eyes, the eyes of a boy who until a moment ago was healthy and whole, who saw himself as part of the Settlement Movement, as part of this nation. Eyes of a boy who suddenly finds himself seriously injured. I saw the pain, the brokenness. He can't speak because he is on a respirator. He started crying not because his body hurts, but because his heart hurts. Finally someone came and cares about him. Finally someone treats him not as an enemy," the Knesset member said excitedly.
"Most of you are now hearing the name of Yedidya Yaakov for the first time and not by chance. Yedidya Yaakov was mortally wounded three weeks ago by a policeman's gunfire. And that is exactly the point. How did we get to a situation where Jews who are hit by a(n) (Israeli) policeman's gunfire in the State of Israel and this does not get coverage in the news? How is it that a shooting like this is covered-up in silence? How is it that the same policeman is already released to house arrest that same evening? If this had happened to another group in the State of Israel, the whole country would be in an uproar. We would have heard it on the news from morning to night. Investigative articles, open studios, inspection committees."
"But there is a dead silence here.
Because for them it's not interesting, it's not important, because these are boys from the Settlement Movement. And it's not because there isn't a serious incident here, rather because of years of demonization, of systematic painting of this wonderful youth as marginalized youth, as outlaws, as those who have no place here. Suddenly it becomes obvious that they can be shot, and no one will ask questions. Did any of you imagine that a policeman would shoot young people? Jews, citizens of the country, and this incident was so ignored that we would even have to fight for it to be addressed? I saw a post by the policeman's friend, which has since been deleted."
"Instead of taking responsibility, he chose to put up a post that defends him. He did not express remorse for the shooting itself, not for the fact that he almost killed four Jewish boys, not for two boys fighting for their lives, but only for the fact that it could create a division in the nation. Do you hear that? Not for the injury, not for the pain, not for the contempt for human life, but for the division."
"This is not only a dangerous blurring of values, it is proof that they have learned nothing. There is no soul-searching here, there is no taking responsibility here, only continuing to ignore and deny what happened, and this is exactly what allows such things to continue to happen. But what is the wonder when the Central Command simulates a scene of kidnapped Arab children by Settlers in their training?
I see their parents and I am in awe of their strength, power, and heroism."
"These are not parents who collapse from the pain, these are parents who stand tall and fight. They don't ask why it happened to us, but how to prevent it the next time. Because they understand that this thing goes way beyond their family. This is not a one-off event, it is a warning sign for all of us. Because we have become so confused, that it is so difficult for us to distinguish between the enemy and the nation, our people. That there are those who see our brothers as a threat."
*Honenu Petitioned the High Court*
Attorney Menashe Yado from the Honenu organization petitioned the High Court with a request that it instruct that the investigation be transferred from the central unit for Yehuda & Shomron to the sole responsibility of the Department of Police Investigations. In addition, Attorney Yado requests in the petition to order the Department of Police Investigations to summon eyewitnesses to the incident to testify.
In the petition, Attorney Yado presents medical documents that confirm the settlers' claim of a deliberate shooting. Yado claims that it is impossible for a stray shot or a shot into the air to hit the heads of three settlers and the torso of another young man. Attorney Yado also claims that the policeman's claim that he shot into the air is not consistent with the findings on the ground.
In addition, the petitioners complain that the investigative authorities did not place any sanctions whatsoever against the police officer and did not even perform elementary investigative actions, despite the seriousness of the incident -- the police officer who fired was not arrested and soon returned to work in the police ranks.
In the petition, Attorney Yado emphasized the fact that not one of the eyewitnesses who were present at the scene of the incident has so far been summoned to testify before the police or the Department of Police Investigations. Following Attorney Yado's petition, the High Court ordered the state to respond to the petition within a month or so.
Attorney Yado said: "The policeman pointed the gun at the young men, without being attacked first, said he will shoot, and fired eight bullets toward their heads. According to the medical findings, at least five bullets hit the heads and backs of the young men and caused severe and fatal injuries. Although this was an incident unprecedented in its severity, the shooter was released without arrest and soon returned to active service with the police. The petition that was filed undermines the message emanating from the work of the investigative authorities -- that Jewish youths are an enemy that is allowed to be shot -- and strives to do justice for those same youths and their family members for an intentional, insane and unjustified shooting."
