The State of Israel will not be filing indictments in order to appease any particular party or community, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Wednesday, dismissing charges that racism played a part in the decision to refrain from indicting any police officers over the deaths of 13 Israeli-Arabs during the October 2000 riots.
Ina special press conference called to address the affair, Mazuz said: “None of us wants to live in a country where indictments are served without evidence only to appease one community or another.”
'Claim is baseless and outrageous'
“Whoever decided to close the cases knew full well the decision will be met by difficult reactions,” he said. “Yet his duty as a prosecutor, as is the duty of any other public official, is to take the proper decision in accordance with the law, the findings, and professional considerations, even if the decision is criticized, instead of making the popular decision.”
Mazuz added: We called this conference to respond to a series of callous, irresponsible and unfounded attacks against the Police Investigations Committee in the Justice Ministry and its decisions regarding the investigation of the October 2000 incidents, in which 13 people were killed. The events were tragic and marked a major blow to co-existence in all of Israel.
“The claim that the decision was influenced by the fact that those who were killed were Arabs is baseless and outrageous. Israel’s Arab citizens do indeed suffer from inequality and discrimination, but it seems to me that the Justice Ministry has been at the forefront of the activity to protect their rights,” he said.
“In a country governed by laws, indictments are not filed according to speculations or gut feelings.”
'We had no choice'
Police Investigations Committee Director Herzl Shabiro said, “Our intent was not to legitimize the events in which Arab citizens were killed. We had no choice; there was no evidence, we could not identify the police officers involved and the families did cooperate.”
“Should we file indictments only to mend the rift with the Arab public?” he said.
Last Sunday the Police Investigations Committee decided to close the investigations against the officers who were involved in the October shootings and even criticized the victims’ families for “refusing to cooperate with out investigators.”
“There is no choice but to close the investigations – some due to lack of evidence and some due to the fact that we were unable to arrest the officers responsible,” the committee said in a statement.
The Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee announced Monday it would hold a series of protests against the Police Investigation Unit's decision to close all investigations into the deaths of 13 Israeli Arabs during riots nearly five years ago.
Heading the protests will be a week-long hunger strike opposite the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem.
In addition, the Monitoring Committee will set up protest tents in the seven towns in which people died during anti-Israel riots at the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada.
On Shabbat, October 1, the Monitoring Committee will mark five years since the riots with a 12-kilometer (seven mile), uphill march from Kfar Manda to Sakhnin, under the banner "walk of sorrow."
Professor Shimon Shamir - a member of the Or Commission that recommended indicting several officers - said following the decision that he was "angry" at the police findings.
"This is an insufferable situation – 13 people were killed, and no one will stand trial for it," he said.
First published: 12:57, 09.21.5