Israeli Arabs furious over decision not to indict police officers
Higher Arab Monitoring Committee severely criticizes Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to close case against police officers implicated in riots of October 2000; Human rights organization plans to appeal to international legal bodies, foreign countries for help. Arab MKs slam AG's ruling
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision not to indict police officers implicated in the October 2000 riots, which left 13 Israeli Arabs dead, has raised ire among Arab MKs and local leaders as well as left-wing activists.
Hassan Jabareen, the general director of Adalah, the Legal Center for Minority Arab Rights in Israel, said in a press conference that his organization would appeal to international bodies and foreign countries for help since "the Israeli government did not take any steps against those who carried out the crimes."
Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Chairman Shawki Khatib said in response to the ruling that "it’s a dark day for justice, human rights and the aspiration of Israeli Arabs to live respectfully among nations." Khatib recommended that members initiate protest measures including a strike of the Arab sector and appealing to international bodies.
On Monday, the committee is set to convene to discuss the matter.
The chairman labeled Mazuz's decision "criminal" saying the message it sends is that "Arab blood is worthless."
"In October 2000 the policemen murdered and today their commanders give their blessing to the murder," Khatib railed. "The Monitoring Committee will not keep quiet until the last one of the murderers is brought to justice. We're not motivated by revenge, but rather by (the application of) justice, alarm and (we want) to act against the shameless brutal hand that we're treated with."
Hassan Asala, the father of Asil who was killed in the riots, read out loud the names of the 13 people killed while specifying the circumstances in which each was killed. He also read the names of those he thought killed each one of the victims. Some of the names he mentioned included: Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben-Ami and other police officers who were present at the riots.
MKs react
Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said that "the decision was predictable because of the man's questionable record.
"His decision contradicts and goes against the Or Commission's report. Despite this, it sits alongside a Mazuz ruling that incitement to murder against Arab members of Knesset is a legitimate expression included within the domain of democracy.
"It also sits alongside Mazuz's decision that starving a million and-a-half people in Gaza is legitimate. This is a premeditated racist decision (carried out) because the victims were Arabs," Barakeh claimed.
Meretz Chairman Zahava Gal-On also had some tough words for Mazuz: "This is a chronicle of an obvious cover-up. Mazuz hammered in the last nail in the coffin of the Or Commission's report which ruled that there had been wanton unjustified shooting by the police."
In 2003, the Or Commission ruled that both the government and the police failed to handle the October 2000 riots properly. The commission's report slammed then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but did not recommend any operative steps in the matter.
The Or commission found then-Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami from at fault, ordering he never serve in that ministerial capacity again; and rendering similar recommendations in regards to then-Police Commissioner Yehuda Vilk and Commander Alik Ron.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also expressed "deep concern and disappointment" with the attorney general's decision. "The passage to the painful human significance for the victims' families, this is another step that deepens the trust crisis between the police and the State's Arab citizens and it further bases the suspicion that in the eyes of many in the Israeli police, the State's Arab citizens are the enemy and it is OK to spill their blood."
Aviram Zino and Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to this report
