Duma arson attack

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Duma arson attack
File:Peace Now Price Tag 310114 010.jpg
Duma village
Location Duma, Palestinian territories
Date 31 July 2015
Attack type
 Molotov cocktail
Deaths 3
Injured 1

The Duma village arson attack refers to the firebombing of a Palestinian family home[1] in late July 2015 in the village of Duma, which resulted in the loss of life of three of the family members; 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was burned alive in the fire, while both his parents died from their injuries within weeks.[2] On January 3, 2016, 21 year old Jewish settler, Amiram Ben-Uliel, was indicted for the murder, and along with a Jewish minor, for participation in the planning the murder. In addition, along with two others, they were both charged with one count of membership in a terrorist organization.[3] At the same time the gag order on the incident was lifted.[4]

Arson attack

File:Duma arson attack 1.jpg
Dawabsheh family home after ignition
File:Revenge graffiti on the burned Dawabsheh house.jpg
"Revenge" graffiti in Hebrew, on the wall of the house
File:"Long live King Messiah" graffiti in Hebrew, on the wall of the house.jpg
"Long live the Messiah King" graffiti in Hebrew, on the wall of the house

It emerged in investigations that the attack had apparently been planned in a cave called the "Red House" built from a previously existing Palestinian structure, on a site that was then turned into an Israeli outpost called Yishuv HaDaat. According to Rabbis for Human Rights, the state still plans to legalize this same outpost, though it was stolen through threats and violence from its Palestinian owners. [5]

On 31 July 2015, two family homes in Duma, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, were firebombed by masked attackers. According to all reports, the first house was empty and they then went to a second house, where 18-month-old Ali Sa'ad Dawabsheh was burnt to death; his parents and 4-year-old brother were critically injured and rushed to Israeli hospitals, the father died of his burns several days later.[6][7][8] Five weeks later, the mother, Reham Dawabsheh, died of her injuries.[9]

According to local accounts, the family had returned home from a visit with relatives at around 1:30 am, and sometime after they went to bed, between 2 and 4 am.,[10] two masked assailants smashed windows and threw Molotov cocktails into the sleeping quarters. The IDF stated that windows had been smashed before the firebombs were lobbed in.[11] Another version claims that the house itself was doused and set alight.[12] Neighbors stated that both parents emerged from their home enveloped in flames, while two masked men were observed fleeing the scene.[10] Haaretz, however, pointed out that the torched houses were in the middle of the town, far from the outskirts and that it would not have been easy for outside intruders to "make a getaway."[13]

The family's neighbor Ibrahim Dawabsheh, a construction worker in the Shilo settlement, reported that he heard his neighbours' screams, and on running to the site, saw 2 men standing over Reham and Saad's burning bodies. They followed him when he retreated, until he was joined by his brother.[14] The mother, Riham (27), herself engulfed by flames,[7][11] according to her brother-in-law, grabbed a blanket in which she thought her youngest child was sleeping, and fled outside only to realize the child was not in the blanket.[7] She had third degree burns over 90% of her body and died on 6 September 2015. According to one report, the father, Saad, managed to carry their son Ahmed (4) outside while sustaining burns over 80% of his body. He subsequently died of his wounds while undergoing treatment in the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva on August 8.[6][15] Another version states that Ahmad was rescued by their neighbor Ibrahim Dawabsheh.[14] Ahmad also suffered serious burns over 60% of his body.[7][16][17]

Victims

  • 'Ali Sa'ed Muhammad Dawabsheh, 1, succmbed to his wounds on 31 July
  • Sa'ed Muhammad Hassan Dawabsheh, 32, succmbed to his wounds on 8 August
  • Riham Hussein Hassan Dawabsheh, 26, succmbed to her wounds on 7 September[18]

Investigation

From the first day, the Israeli authorities imposed a press embargo on the subject, banning the media from publishing any details or developments related to the investigation. On 31 August 2015, the embargo was extended by a month[19]

The Israeli investigators and international observers immediately suspected Jewish extremists of committing the attack.[11][20][21][22][23] Several young men alleged to have been instigators were not native-born Israelis but came from American immigrant families.[24] A manual of incitement written by Moshe Orbach, an Israeli from Bnai Brak, entitled “Kingdom of Evil,” which provides details on how to set fire to mosques, churches and Palestinian homes, has also been mentioned in connection with the Duma attack.[25] In February 2016 Orbach was convicted of sedition, the first time an Israeli court has found someone guilty of that charge in the last decade.[26]

Israeli police initially suspected that the arson was a price tag attack by "extremist Israeli settlers"; some speculated that it might have been undertaken in retaliation for the demolition by the IDF of Jewish settlement structures in Beit El, 'the flagship of the ideological settler movement,'[21] some time earlier.[27]

In the Hebrew graffiti, the usual signature of "price tag” (Heb: "Tag Mechir") is lacking, and in its stead the slogans "Revenge," and "Long live King Messiah," (Heb: "Yechi Hamelech Hamashiach ”) were scrawled. The latter is the motto of the messianist wing of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.[21][28] In addition, a resident told a reporter that he saw attackers fleeing towards the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Efrayim.[29] Police requested information from the public as they sought to identify the arsonists.[28]

When suspicion fell on West Bank Jewish extremists, Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America alleged that Jews were being "falsely accused" of carrying out the attack, and he instead accused it as being the work of other Palestinians, as part of "an 18-year-old feud between Arab clans" in the village.[23] Israeli Knesset member Oren Hazan, referencing a later separate fire at the house of a brother of Saad Dawabsheh that the Israeli and Palestinian authorities have reported to be unrelated to the arson attack, called for an investigation as he believed that the second fire may indicate that the arson was not committed by Israeli extremists.[30]

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu claimed on 30 August 2015 on Ynet that "The way of terror is not our [Jews] way". Later he claimed; "only someone who lacks knowledge in the nuances of the religious community would make such a mistake and assume that "Tag Mechir" activists will write "Yechi Hamelech Hamashiach" ("Long live King Messiah").[31]

On 8 September 2015, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told the media, that Israel “know[s] unequivocally that this is an act of Jewish terror."[32] On 9 September 2015, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon issued a statement that said "there is a high probability that those responsible for the attack in Duma are part of a very extreme group of Jews" but that there is not yet enough evidence to arrest any suspects.[2][33] Ya'alon also told a group of Likud activists that the identities of the arsonists are known to the defense establishment but that charges would not yet be brought to protect the identity of their sources.[34] Later Ya’alon clarified that security forces have only a “general idea” of who is responsible for the deadly firebombing attack ... calling on reporters to take a wait and see approach to the case".[35] Ya'alon said the attack hurt the state of Israel and the settlement movement specifically and mentioned that "It is necessary to know that most of those extreme right wing activists are not residents of Judea and Samaria and they definitely don't represent the settler-communities over there."[36] According to Sara Hirschhorn, settler rabbis and the leaders of American immigrant communities in the West Bank have been muted in their responses to the detention of suspects associated with their communities.[24]

On 3 December 2015, it was cleared for publication that a number of Jewish suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack.[37][38] The UN envoy criticized the "slow progress" in Israel's investigation.[39]

Haaretz reported that the suspects were subjected to harsh interrogation methods after the investigation hit a dead end. According to unnamed sources, Israeli Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein approved the use of these methods, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not informed of this until after the fact. In response to the allegations, Deputy Attorney-General Raz Nizri met with the detainees.[40]

On 11 December 2015, one of the suspects was released to house arrest.[41]

Despite acknowledging that the attack was "clearly a Jewish" one, and that Israeli authorities knew "who is responsible" for it, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that there is "not enough evidence" to detain or prosecute the suspects.[42] The comments were decried by Palestinian rights groups, who noticed the swiftness of Israeli military actions against Palestinian suspects of attacks against Israeli targets, and accused the Israeli government of condoning settler violence.[43]

On December 15, the Israeli High Court of Justice denied a petition that the government take immediate "legal steps against the Dawabsheh family's murders".[43]

On the evening of the 17'th of December 2015, Mako reported [44] about a petition to leak the names of arrested people, within a few hours "כולנו עם עצורי ציון" (in other sources 'נערי דומא', "Duma Youth") leaked 100 names that had been allegedly held by security services giving three categories (administrative detention, custody and under active integration by the Shabak). rotter news reported that the list is not credible as they believe the names are not connected to the investigation.[45]

On January 3, 2016, two suspects were indicted. One of them, 21-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel, was charged with murder. The second, a minor whose identity was withheld due to regulations exempting minors suspected of criminal acts from being publicly named, was charged as an accessory.[46] The motive, as stated in the indictment, was revenge for the murder of the young Israeli Malachi Rosenfeld by Palestinians, near Duma about a month earlier.[47][48] The indictments also included charges of membership in a terror organization, "The Revolt" group, who reportedly was founded in October 2013, and aimed to carry out terror acts against Palestinians, stir chaos in Israel, and bring about war between Arabs and Jews. The purpose was to cause the collapse of Israel's democracy to make way for a state ruled by a Jewish king according to Halachic (Jewish religious) law.[49][49][50][50][51][51][52][52] Although The Revolt has no strict hierarchy, Shin Bet claims that the leader of the Revolt is Meir Ettinger, grandson of Meir Kahane. .[53] Concurrently, the Rehovot Magistrate's Court sentenced right-wing activist Haim Auerbach for two years in prison for publishing the booklet 'kingdom of evil', detailing how to harm Arabs and giving guidance how to set mosques on fire, and in the opinion of the judges, there is a link between the publication of the document and the murder of the Dawabsheh family in Duma village.[54]

Response

On 31 July 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed "shock and horror" at an arson attack telling him that "it's upon us to together fight terror, no matter which side perpetrates it".[55] The European Union and U.S. condemned the attack and the U.S also urged "all sides to maintain calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of this tragic incident."[56] Israeli President Reuven Rivlin stood out among Jewish Israeli politicians for his condemnation of Jewish terror, for which he received a slew of death threats on social media by Israelis who additionally called him a “traitor” and “Arab terrorist”.[57]

In the aftermath of the incident, it was noted that the family was not entitled to compensation for the terror attack, and calls have been made to extend to Palestinian victims of Jewish terrorism compensation which so far is reserved exclusively for Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism.[58]

B'tselem stated that Israeli condemnations would remain mere rhetoric if such attacks were allowed to continue, noting that in the past three years nine Palestinian homes had been subject to firebombing and no one has yet to be incriminated in any of the cases.[59] Yuval Diskin, ex-head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, reflecting on Israel's response to such attacks, stated that an anarchistic state was being formed in southern West Bank which was violent and developing racist ideologies and that these are being handled tolerantly by the Israeli judicial system. He claimed that, in this part of the West Bank, 'law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews.'[60] According to the UN, since the beginning of 2015 at least 120 settler attacks have been documented in West Bank, and Yesh Din statistics suggest over 92.6% of Palestinian complaints lodged with Israeli security forces never led to charges being filed.[61]

The arson was condemned as an act of terrorism by the Palestinian government.[62]

Palestinians responded to the arson with large protests that resulted in violent confrontation with the Israeli forces.[63][64][65] One Palestinian, 17-year-old Laith al-Khaldi, was shot by the IDF and later died of his wounds in a Ramallah hospital.[66] 2,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv in a rally organized by Peace Now to protest the incident, and hundreds attended a protest in Jerusalem against the arson.[67]

On 2 August 2015, the Israeli cabinet approved applying administrative detention measures, hitherto used solely against Palestinian suspects, also against Jewish Israeli citizens suspected of participating in terror attacks against Palestinians.[68]

After the attack, the villagers started patrolling the village to protect it from Israeli settlers.[69]

On 4 August 2015, the police requested information from the public as they seek to identify the arsonists.[28] Elisha Odess (17), who was put under home detention the day after the Dumas firebombing and detained on November 25 as a suspect, has dual Israeli-American citizenship.[70] He and the other suspects are described as coming from 'the heart of the settlement movement, the byproduct of its educational system'.[71]

In December 2015 Israeli police began investigating a video of a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem celebrating the marriage of a person known to have been involved in price tag attacks, in which guests are shown stabbing a photo of the toddler, Ali Dawabsheh, who had died in the Duma arson attack. The same video contained scenes of guests, armed with guns, knives and Molotov cocktails, chanting a song with the words from the book of Judges (16:28), "O God, that I may be this once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes", replacing "Philistines" with "Palestinians".[72] A lawyer for the defendants in the case, Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, was also present and later said "No one realized these were photos of a member of the Dawabsheh family" - talking of the toddler photo which was stabbed and then burnt by wedding guests. Such scenes are reported to be typical of many such weddings.[72][73]

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, commenting on the flood of emails from people claiming they would no longer vote for his party because of his defense of the Shin Bet's Jewish Agency, which is investigating the crime, said Ben-Gvir, the suspects' Kahanist attorney, was a genius running a propaganda campaign for their release. Their interrogation, in Nahum Barnea's words, was being portrayed as 'a long and arduous physical and mental torture. The suspects' bodies were stretched and shrunk on a Procrustean bed; they were electrocuted; they were sexually harassed, suffered kicking to the chest, bruising, slapping; a female interrogator groped them.' Bennett argues that,'(T)hose who support the use of exceptional methods against Palestinian terrorism, should support the use of exceptional methods against Jewish terrorism.'[71]

On January third, 2016 Hussein Dawabsha, the father of Riham, urged for a new intifada and was quoted saying "those who burned my family should themselves be burned" and, after stating that Israel does not punish Jewish terrorists according to their deeds, he added that "Only an intifada will avenge the death of the Dawabsha family. They should continue with more attacks, having faith in Allah. Only in this way we will achieve our rights."[74] By this he referred to a wave of stabbing and car-ramming attacks which started in October 2015.[74]

Reprisals

On 14 August 2015, a gas station was firebombed on Route 60 near the West Bank settlement Eli. Later, two Palestinian from Awarta, members of the PFLP, claimed the attack was a retaliation for the firebombing at Duma.[75][76]

Several media outlets have additionally attributed the wave of stabbing attacks by Palestinians from late 2015 through 2016 at least partly to the Duma arson killings as well as Israeli delays in pressing charges against any suspects.[72][77]

References

  1. ↑ Ilan Ben Zion and Judah Ari Gross, 'Israel arrests Jewish terror suspects in deadly firebombing,' The Times of Israel, 3 December 2015:'the fatal firebombing of the Dawabsha family home.'
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 'State seeks legalization of outpost where Duma murder was reportedly planned,' Rabbis for Human Rights 3 January 2016.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 of slain Palestinian infant dies from his wounds,' Ma'an News Agency 8 August 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ West Bank arson: Dead Palestinian child's father dies of wounds, BBC
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Noga Tarnopolsky, 'Attack in West Bank Kills Palestinian Child,' Wall Street Journal 31 July 2015.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Diaa Hadid and Jodi Rudoren, 'Jewish Arsonists Suspected in West Bank Attack That Killed Palestinian Toddler,' New York Times 31 July 2015.
  12. ↑ 'Palestinian infant killed in apparent Jewish terror attack,' The Times of Israel 31 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 'Palestinian child dead in suspected Jewish extremist arson attack on home,' The Guardian 31 July 2015.
  15. ↑ Ilana Curiel, Rotem Elizera, Elior Levy,'Father of slain Palestinian baby dies of his wounds,' Ynet 8 August 2015.
  16. ↑ 'Israeli settlers kill Palestinian toddler in arson attack,’ Ma'an News Agency 31 July 2015
  17. ↑ Chaim Levinson, 'Police Seek Public's Help in Murder of Duma Toddler ,' Haaretz 4 August 2015.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Israel extends media blackout on deadly arson attack developments. The Middle East Monitor, 1 September 2015
  20. ↑ Mohammed Daraghmeh,Tia Goldenberg,'Jewish Attack on Palestinian Home Kills Toddler,' Associated Press 31 July 2015.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lahav Harkov, 'ZOA slams those who ‘rush to blame Jews’ for Duma attack,' Jerusalem Post 6 August 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Sara Hirschhorn,'Israeli Terrorists, Born in the U.S.A.,', The New York Times, September 4, 2015:'All available evidence suggests that the blaze was a deliberate act of settler terrorism.'
  25. ↑ Jamal Kanj 'Analysis: Burned alive by Israelis,' Ma'an News Agency 13 September 2015.
  26. ↑ Israeli court convicts radical right-wing activist of sedition the Times of Israel, February 19, 2016
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Senior IDF officer: Duma attack was definitely Jewish terrorism, 8 September 2015, JTA
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Suspects arrested for ties to Jewish terror attack in Duma Yoav Zitun, Roy Yanovsky, 12.03.15, Ynet
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 [1]
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Israel Faces New Brand of Terrorism, This Time From Young Settlers NYT, Jan 11, 2016
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ EU, U.S. State Department Condemn 'vicious' West Bank Arson Attack, Jul 31, Haaretz
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Revital Hovel,'Palestinian Arson Victims Not Eligible Under Israeli Compensation Law ,' Haaretz 11 August 2015.
  59. ↑ Harriet Sherwood, 'Israeli government's talk is cheap on 'price tag' violence,' 31 July 2015
  60. ↑ 'Ex-Shin Bet chief: Government does not want to deal with Jewish terror,' Ynet 8 August 2015.
  61. ↑ 'Palestinian baby burned to death in settler attack,' Al Jazeera 31 July 2015.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  68. ↑ Mairav Zonszein,'Israel to detain Jewish terror suspects without trial', The Guardian 2 August 2015.
  69. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  70. ↑ Josh Nathan-Kazis, 'Family Claims American Teen Held as Jewish Extremist Is Being Tortured by Israel,' The Forward
  71. ↑ 71.0 71.1 Nahum Barnea, 'Bennett at odds with Bayit Yehudi over Duma arson investigation,'Ynet 26 December 2015.
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 72.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  73. ↑ Elisha Ben Kimon, Elior Levy, Attila Somfalvi, 'Police investigating wedding video on suspicion of incitement,' Ynet 24 December 2015.
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  75. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  76. ↑ Raoul Wootliff, 'Two held for firebomb attack on settlement gas station,' The Times of Israel29 September 2015.
  77. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Duma_arson_attack&oldid=722733142"