Jewish terrorist suspects’ families demand inquiry into torture claims
Channel 10 publishes video of right-wing extremists stabbing photo of slain Palestinian toddler at wedding.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA man looks out of a house badly damaged by a firebomb attack by suspected Jewish extremists in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank, July 31, 2015(photo credit: REUTERS)
The parents of Jewish terrorist suspects called on Wednesday for the government to create a national commission of inquiry to investigate their children’s claims that they were tortured while in the custody of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).“We believe in our children’s innocence. But even those who doubted it do not have permission to engage in criminal action and to abuse young boys under the guise of an investigation to discover the truth,” the families of five suspects told the media.Information that is obtained under such violence won’t help the Shin Bet solve the crimes they are investigating, the families said. It shows that the Shin Bet is willing to break the law to obtain a conviction at all costs, they added.“Such sadistic actions against our children have already cost one of them to harm himself,” the families said.They noted that some of the suspects are as young as 16 and 17, and warned that their treatment at the hands of the Shin Bet would cause them to suffer for the rest of their lives.On Sunday, the NGO Honenu, whose attorneys are defending the suspects, charged that as a result of Shin Bet torture, a 17-year-old suspect had attempted to commit suicide.A hearing was held with regard to the incident at the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court. The teen has been in Shin Bet custody since November 21 and no charges have been filed against him. On Wednesday, the court extended his arrest until Monday. By law, the teen cannot be held for more than 40 days.It is presumed that the suspects are being held in connection with the Shin Bet investigation of the July 31 torching by Jewish terrorists of a home in the West Bank village of Duma. Three members of the Dawabsha family, Sa’ad, 32, his wife Reham, 27, and their 18-month-old baby Ali were killed in the arson attack.Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Bayit Yehudi party, similarly denounced Jewish terrorist activity and, for the second day in a row, threw his support behind the Shin Bet in its investigation of the Duma terrorism.Those murders were not a random act of violence, but rather part of a deliberate strategy to overthrow the state of Israel, Bennett told a conference sponsored by the national- religious newspaper Besheva on Wednesday.
“They want to bring down our house. This is their goal. Their philosophy is the antithesis of the essence of religious Zionism. They want to dismantle the state of Israel. They are terrorists. And the government is treating them as such,” he said.Those who are held in Shin Bet custody have been treated as Palestinian terrorist suspects would be treated, Bennett said. In those instances they are prevented from sleeping or meeting with their lawyers.The Shin Bet presses them to provide information that saves lives, and wants to avoid a second and third Duma, he said.Still, Bennett said, he checked with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and had concluded that the suspects had not been tortured. “They were not hung by their legs and there was no suicide attempt,” he said.