Four Israelis indicted on charges including terrorism after firing flares in protest near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Caesarea residence will be released to house arrest, the Haifa District Court ruled Thursday.
There was no evidence with the potential to convict the accused on terrorism charges, the judge who presided over the hearing said.
IDF R.-Adm. (res.) Ofer Doron, 63, who served as the commander of the Space Division at Israel Aerospace Industries; his son Gal, 27; Ittay Yaffe, 62; and Amir Sade, 62, were indicted on charges of an act of terrorism, recklessness with fire, and attempted arson earlier this month after they fired marine flares near Netanyahu’s home.
For an act to be terrorism under the law, it is not enough for it to pressure the government, but rather it must force the government’s hand, the judge said, adding: “Otherwise, any act of protest, of any kind,” could be labeled “an act of terrorism.” [This] “slippery slope could lead to dark results, and this is not what the legislator meant.”
“The State of Israel is a strong and resilient state, and if an enemy firing ballistic missiles at it does not easily make the government change its position, then two flares fired in the direction of the prime minister’s home will certainly not do this,” he said, adding that this does not diminish the severity of the actions the accused allegedly did.
“The right to protest, as well as the right to demonstrate, is a cornerstone of a democratic state,” he said. “However, those who disagree with the opposing side’s position must not cross the boundaries of the law into the dark realms of committing criminal offenses.”
Lawyers Gonen Ben Itzhak and Nir Alfasa, who are part of the Maarach Otef Atzurim organization that gives legal assistance to protesters and represents the four suspects, welcomed the court’s decision.
“The court agreed with us that there is no justification for the terrorism charge in the indictment,” it said. “In any case, this affair has been blown out of proportion, likely due to excessive motivation to create a criminal symmetry between political extremes.”
Ittay Doron, the son of Ofer Doron, said: “We are happy that they will finally be at home and able to handle the case from home rather than from jail.”
“I think that the [court’s] decision is well-explained and moral, and that its value for freedom of protest and the continuation of democracy here is important,” he added.
The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv said the most important part of the court’s decision was that there was no evidence of an act of terrorism by the four.
He called on the State Attorney’s Office to “correct the indictment,” adding that it “should not associate terrorism charges with protest activists. This is not consistent with our pain regarding what happened here in the last 15 months as a result of real acts of terrorism and is not consistent with freedom of protest in a democratic country.”
Criticism of charges
The terrorism charges against the four had led to criticism and protest against their arrest, with opponents calling the charges politically motivated.
When the indictment was first announced, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the State Attorney’s Office should reconsider it because it disproportionately harmed freedom of protest.
“Freedom of protest is a fundamental right in a democratic society, and the use of criminal law and security services against demonstrators, in an attempt to suppress protests against the government or imprison protesters, is characteristic of oppressive regimes,” it said. “The effort to label protesters as terrorists is also a hallmark of regimes we do not wish to emulate.”
Protesters have been gathering several times a week outside the jail where the four suspects were held to show their support.