On July 31st, masked settlers
firebombed a Palestinian home in the village of Duma. 18-month old Ali Dawabsheh died that night. His father
Sa'ad died days later. His mother
Reham, a schoolteacher, died a few days ago. His 4-year old brother Ahmed remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Haaretz reported that Israel has identified the suspects, but won't file charges yet.
Israel’s defense establishment knows who is responsible for the arson attack that killed three members of a Palestinian family two months ago, but has chosen to prevent legal recourse in order to protect the identity of their sources, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told a closed meeting of some 20 young Likud activists in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Why the f--k does the defense minister think it's appropriate to brief a group of "young Likud activists" before the victim's family and the media?
Within hours, the story was confirmed in an official statement:
Speaking to military correspondents on Thursday, Ya'alon said the defense establishment "believes they know who carried out the terrorist attack, but there is difficulty in putting them on trial. I hope that we'll find the evidence necessary in order to bring the perpetrator of this heinous attack to justice."
The defense minister also noted that the perpetrators belong to a group of Jewish extremists that intended to increase tension in the West Bank.
The "protecting sources" story has some validity, Shin-Bet has said recruiting informants within Jewish terror groups is
extremely hard. But one would think the murder of three people would lead Israel to pull out all the stops and crack down on these groups conclusively. After all, the abduction and murder of three young Israelis last year by Hamas led to a widespread crackdown and eventually to extensive bombing of Gaza.
Israeli courts have also permitted anonymous and secret testimony before, most recently in the prosecution of a mob boss and his organization. So that would be one way to get indictments and arrests without compromising sources.
Perhaps the defense minister is afraid he'll be pelted with bags of urine as his soldiers were when trying to demolish buildings in illegal settlements.