Military Advocate General Mandelblit
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Office
Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit notified the High Court on Wednesday that he has decided to launch an investigation against the Kfir Battalion soldiers who opened fire at and killed two young Palestinians in a village near Nablus six months ago.
At first, it was reported that the two Palestinians were terrorists on their way to carry out a pitchfork attack. The soldiers claimed the Palestinian men had disguised themselves as farmers last March, but were armed with a broken bottle and farming equipment that they purportedly intended to use in an attack against the Kfir Brigade soldiers. However, a later IDF investigation found many inaccuracies in the testimonies provided by the soldiers.
What Really Happened?
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At the end of August, the rights group Yesh Din petitioned the High Court with a demand that IDF be ordered to open an investigation in the debated incident.
A statement issued to the High Court on Mandelblit's behalf stated that the military advocate general had ordered an investigation into the deaths of Faisel and Mohammad in the fields near Awarta, just outside of Nablus after documents on the event were reviewed. State representatives clarified that the investigation is not being launched as a result of the High Court petition already filed on the matter, but rather due discrepancies that arose in the associated documentation.
The State claimed that the details outlined in the complaints "did not contain enough on which to base suspicions of criminal offense and that the decision regarding launching a criminal investigation was made after the factual basis was extended via an examination of the operational debriefings, a process which naturally takes time."
The Yesh Din human rights group petition asserted that the two Palestinians, who were cousins, made a living in farming. According to the petition, an autopsy performed on their bodies in the Nablus-Rafidia Hospital revealed that one of killed men sustained no less than seven gunshot wounds in his lower body, while the other man was shot three times, apparently from point-blank range.
Yesh Din called the refrain from launching a criminal investigation "outrageous" and asserted that "this decision sends a loud and clear message to all IDF soldiers involved in defense operations in the West Bank that when an incident ends in the death of a Palestinian, there is no justification for launching a criminal investigation."
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