High Court rejects Honenu attack on police probe of Ahuvia Sandak case

A three-justice panel including some of the court's most conservative justices supported the police approach of having the incident analyzed by two separate divisions of law enforcement.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
DEMONSTRATORS PAINT over a picture of Ahuvia Sandak in protest against his death, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
DEMONSTRATORS PAINT over a picture of Ahuvia Sandak in protest against his death, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition by Honenu to alter the parameters of the police probe into the Ahuvia Sandak case.
Sandak was killed on December 21, when the vehicle he was in flipped over while he and the group of activists who had allegedly been throwing rocks at Palestinian vehicles were fleeing active pursuit from police. Police either accidentally collided with his car or purposely tried to force his car to stop.
A three-justice panel including some of the court’s most conservative justices supported the police approach of having the incident analyzed by two separate divisions of law enforcement.
Justices David Mintz, Yosef Elron and Yitzhak Amit ruled that law enforcement had been correct to probe criminal allegations against the Sandak-aligned activists via the police’s Jerusalem District unit, while probing allegations regarding Sandak’s death via the Police Investigations Department (PID), which is the unit that investigates allegations of police misconduct.
Honenu NGO supporting right-wing legal causes had argued that the entire investigation should be handled by PID, focusing on the police actions which allegedly led to Sandak’s death.
They had argued that involving the Jerusalem District of the police was an attempt to cover up police misconduct and deflect blame on Sandak’s colleagues.
Furthermore, PID Deputy Director Moshe Saada has criticized his boss, the unit’s director Keren Ben Menachem, for her handling of the case.
The High Court did not accept Honenu’s claim, saying that the only way the probe could confront the complex realities involved is by involving the two separate police units and dividing responsibility for those parts of the incident where the suspects were solely civilians from the parts where there was potential police misconduct.
On Wednesday, Honenu said it had obtained some preliminary support from a magistrate’s court judge who seemed critical of the police’s handling of the investigation. This was state in separate but related judicial proceedings.
Yet, it was unclear how the judge would rule on Honenu’s request to have that judge or another one intervene in law enforcement’s conduct of the probe to ensure objectivity.

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On January 5, Honenu’s lawyer Menashe Yaado had already accused Ben Menachem of trying to cover up alleged police crimes in Sandak’s death, while Deputy State’s Attorney Shlomo (Mumi) Lemberger accused Yaado of lies and defamation.
Early evidence indicates that Sandak was not the driver and that he may not have been wearing a seat belt at the time, since the other four passengers who may have been wearing theirs were not hurt as badly.
The Jerusalem Post has learned that the current police narrative is that the passengers in the car, a mix of minors and young adults, were throwing rocks at moving Palestinian vehicles and had even hit and harmed one Palestinian.
If the police were too aggressive, they could face charges or be disciplined. However, if the car flipping was an accident then it is possible that Sandak’s accompanying passenger-activists will be charged for lesser charges such as for rock throwing and possibly dangerous driving leading to his death.
Honenu has not actively denied that there was rock throwing against Palestinians, but has said that the police pursuit of Sandak and the others was far more dangerous and ended in greater violence than anything the activists might have previously done.
The more direct accusations against Ben Menachem also came after an extraordinary letter on Monday from Saada to Lemberger accusing Ben Menachem of violating proper procedure. Saada did not accuse her of a cover-up, but he did say that her decision to release the police involved in the incident only hours after they were brought to the station violated procedure.
Lemberger responded to Yaado saying that Ben Menachem’s decision was a professional one made based on a standard legal analysis of the case.
He also said that releasing the police did not mean they were off the hook, and that if necessary, they could still be indicted or disciplined.
Saada himself had a long impressive career in the PID until Ben Menachem was appointed the unit’s chief.
The two have a fraught relationship, with Saada apparently believing that he should have been appointed PID director.
A Justice Ministry spokeswoman said that Saada’s objections would be handled internally and that he did not have a role in this specific probe.


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