Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter
Photo: Alex Kolomoiski
Dichter to return to Israel despite lawsuit
Former Shin Bet chief set to return to Israel in 10 days despite civil lawsuit against him in a Manhattan court by Palestinians
(Washington) Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter will return to Israel from Washington within 10 days despite a lawsuit filed against him in a New York federal court by Palestinians accusing him of “war crimes”, Israeli officials in the American capital told Ynet Friday night.
The lawsuit, classified as a civil case, was filed by Palestinians who had relatives killed or injured in an IAF strike in the Gaza Strip in July 2002 killing 15 people and injuring 150 others.
The plaintiffs accuse Dichter of direct involvement in the operation which targeted and killed top Hamas terrorist and bomb mastermind Salah Shehadeh in a one-ton bomb dropped on his house.
“It is a civil charge related to financial issues. It won’t prevent him from returning to Israel,” the officials said.
Dichter is expected to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party upon his arrival in Israel.
Relatives of 14 Palestinians killed in the air strike accused Dichter of “war crimes” for having been an accomplice in the operation as he supplied the IAF with pin-point intelligence on the whereabouts of Shehadeh, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s leading newspaper, reported Friday.
The Palestinians are demanding Dichter pay undisclosed compensations for the families affected by the strike, leaving it open for the judges to decide on the compensation package which could amount to millions of U.S. dollars.
“This is a symbolic lawsuit demanding compensation from and a sentence for the plaintiff Avi Dichter for breaching local and international laws,” read the letter submitted to a Manhattan court on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry was initially alarmed by reports of the lawsuit against Dichter yet officials in Jerusalem were relieved to know that no criminal charges have been pressed and the lawsuit is civil.
“They are trying to present the issue in a dramatic way, as with Major General Doron Almog in London, yet in American it is a different matter. In London an arrest warrant awaited Almog who was wanted for interrogation in a criminal case,” an official told Ynet.
In September Almog was supposed to visit London to gather donations for the first disabled children's village in the world, but was advised by Israel's ambassador to Great Britain not to leave the aircraft after a Muslim group threatened to have him arrested for "war crimes" during the al-Aqsa Intifada.
Almog remained on the plane and departed for Israel a few hours later.
In the wake of the incident the cabinet unanimously adopted a proposal by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni demanding the government finance legal protection for members of the security establishment threatened by legal action abroad for acts they had committed during their service.
