Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced on Thursday he decided to close an ongoing investigation against police officers who were involved in a West Bank car chase that led to the death of a settler teen in late 2020.
The officers claimed they spotted a group of five settlers throwing rocks at passing Palestinian vehicles. The settlers got into their car and fled the scene as officers began to give chase.
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Religious Zionist Party MK Itamar Ben Gvir (middle) and other demonstrators hold up signs saying 'justice for Ahuvia' and demand officers allegedly involved in his death be prosecuted in a protest in Jerusalem, December 11, 2021
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
The probe looked into allegations the officers rammed into the fleeing vehicle, causing it to steer off the road and flip, killing 16-year-old passenger Ahuvia Sandak.
Mandelblit, who is set to retire at the end of the month after completing a 6-year term in office, said in his decision he had adopted recommendations by the State Attorney's Office and Department of Police Investigations (DPI) which concluded there were no evidence to suggest the officers sought to intentionally hit the fleeing vehicle.
The case raised a public outcry and prompted obstreperous protests conduct that often escalated into violent clashes with police officers, with some protesters claiming the investigation into Sandak's death had been tainted.
Lawmakers from Israel's left and right of the political spectrum alike assailed the attorney general for his decision to shelve the case.
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The scene of the crash in which 16-year-old Ahuvia Sandak was killed
(Photo: Elazar Rieger)
"This is a dark day for Israeli democracy," said MK Itamar Ben Gvir of the ultranationalist Religious Zionist Party.
"A few days before he is planned to go home, the attorney general gives cops a license to kill settlers and plunges a knife in the hearts of Ahuvia's parents who demand a real investigation. Honesty, truth and the pursuit of justice are absent from the system, which criminally covers up the attempt to bring the truth to light, and this harms the public's trust in the system."
MK Mossi Raz of the progressive left Meretz Party called the decision "an outrageous coverup."
"A boy was killed when a police car hit his vehicle and no one is being held accountable," a statement on his behalf read.