Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin
Photo: AP
October 2000 riots
Photo: Ronen Lidor
From targeted killings to October 2000
There is a direct connection between "targeted assassinations" and the police decision to close investigations against the police
When Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin opened his mouth for the first time to present his policies to the press, our eyes went immediately black: The same sort of thinking, the same arrogant, ice-cold brutality, the same frustrating superficiality.
As they used to say on the 1960's-era TV show "Dragnet," only the names have been changed at the Shin Bet.
Diskin, the "architect" of that organization's policy of extra-judicial executions, is the man who was crowned the king of avoiding questions, continues to believe in his heart of hearts that this massive slaughter, this most-wanted list, is a cure-all.
He is so taken with the "success" of this policy that he is unable to hear the denunciations of the Shin Bet by reporters, and unable to see the unprecedented strength Hamas has gained as a direct result.
He is so closed off to reality that it never occurred to him that he and predecessor Avi Dichter contributed more than anything to the popularity of Hamas, which gained strength from killing to killing.
Clear connections
But apart from the frustration and depression one can must take from seeing the man with his finger on the trigger, there is another point, often forgotten, that must be made: there is a direct, clear connection between Diskin's "targeted assassinations" and the police decision to close investigations into the violent deaths of 13 Arab citizens during the October, 2000 riots.
The Shin Bet, Diskin, Dichter - they are the ones who established the principle that it is legitimate to hunt down Arab "suspects."
As soon as they asked, they were given permission, openly and publicly, to kill without trial, there was no turning back, and no way to stem the flood that followed.
To paraphrase a well-known Hebrew phrase, killing is a bit like the sex
drive: when kept on a leash, it can be controlled. But too much creates an insatiable hunger.
Cold-blooded babes
And so the executions grew and grew, and the circle of operations grew wider.
Our soldiers, mother's milk still on their lips, became cold-blooded killers. Pilots were taught that it is acceptable, even praiseworthy and ethical, to blow up dozens of innocents to get to one "suspect." Another notch in the rifle.
Confirmation killings at point-blank range were singled out for praise and honor, because the government and Shin Bet said they were okay.
Out of this phenomenon - Oh, the shame! - sprouted legal unripe fruits.
The police also joined the party. The special police unit, border police, those honorable "hunters" with sniper rifles, also carried out this murderous policy. "Diskin's dictum" flourished, and death became glorious.
October, 2000
And then came the October riots. Officers deployed opposite demonstrators with loaded guns, and apparently with no question: killing Arabs is okay.
Why veer from accepted policy?
There is no doubt in my mind that the police were stunned to suddenly be called to account for these killings. And when the Police Investigation Unit put itself in charge of the investigation, "Diskin's dictum" was there for all to see.
The investigations into these deaths were (not) conducted exactly like similar investigations into hundreds of other Arab deaths, shot by police and border police in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
And why should these deaths have been investigated, in any event? Once they are gone, they become no more than "terrorists", or wanted officials, or inciters, or terror planners. End of investigation.
And when, or if, the Supreme Court is asked for its opinion about the absurd police investigations and their findings, it is worthwhile to weigh up the combination of two different appeals: one by families of the October, 2000 victims, and one about the legality of "targeted killings."
Because they are all interrelated.
