Amiram Ben-Uliel (L) and second unidentified suspect
Rabbis urge PM to halt legal proceedings against Duma suspects
In letter addressed to Netanyahu and justice minister, prominent rabbis and yeshiva heads demand establishment of independent committee to investigate allegations that the Shin Bet used torture to solicit confessions from suspects in a case in which Jewish terrorists firebombed a Palestinian home in 2015, killing three family members.
Dozens of prominent Religious Zionist rabbis called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked Tuesday to halt legal proceedings against alleged Jewish terrorists who are suspected of killing three members of the Dawabsheh family in the Palestinian village of Duma.
On July 31, 2015, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Dawabsheh family's house in the village in the northern West Bank, killing an 18-month-old child, Ali, and critically wounded a four-year-old brother and both parents. The parents, Saad and Riham Dawabsheh later succumbed to their wounds.
The rabbis, who included city rabbis and yeshiva heads, also claimed that Shin Bet investigators had tortured the suspects during their investigation and therefore demanded that an investigative committee be created to look into the matter.
Amiram Ben-Uliel (L) and second unidentified suspect
In a week and a half the Central District Court is supposed to determine whether the statements given by the defendants—Amiram Ben-Uliel and another man who was a minor during the time of the crime—are valid since their defense teams claim they were forced to provide confessions under torture.
In a letter sent to the prime minister and justice minister, the rabbis highlighted what they claimed were “shocking” examples of the defendants providing confessions under duress.
Aftermath of the terror attack (Photo: Zacharia Sadeh)
"In light of the shocking information about the torture that was carried out against the youths in order to squeeze these confessions of their involvement in the Duma case from them, and the severe indictments filed against them which are based on these confessions, we demand that all legal procedures are immediately terminated against them, and that an independent inquiry committee is established to look into these serious suspicions."
Among rabbis who signed the letter are Orthodox Rabbi Dov Lior, Beit El yeshiva head Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, Rabbi Meir Mazuz and Elon Moreh's Yeshiva head Elyakim Levanon.
The couple Saad and Riham and their 18-month-old infant Ali were critically wounded in the cruel attack. Ali had died shortly after the attack. His father Saad succumbed to his wounds in the hospital a few days later.
Members of the Dawabsheh family killed in the attack (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)
Writings of "Long live King Messiah, "Revenge," and a painting of the Star of David on the walls of the burnt home led the security forces and the Shin Bet to the conclusion that the firebombing had been carried out as an act of Jewish terror.
Five months after the incident, the State Attorney's Office indicted two members of a Jewish terror organization members for the murder of the Dawabsheh family and for being part of a terror organization.
According to the State Attorney's Office, the motive for the crime was the desire to avenge the murder of terror victim Malachi Rosenfeld who was shot dead in the vicinity of Binyamin Regional Council's Shvut Rachel settlement.
