[News] Israeli leaders celebrate extrajudicial execution

Wed Feb 7 16:09:52 EST 2018

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-leaders-celebrate-extrajudicial-execution 

  Israeli leaders celebrate extrajudicial execution

Maureen Clare Murphy 
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> - 6 
February 2018

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the early morning hours on Tuesday Israeli occupation forces killed a 
Palestinian man who they claim was involved in the shooting death of an 
Israeli settler in early January.

A second Palestinian was reportedly killed 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/palestinians-one-killed-forty-wounded-in-clashes-with-israeli-army-in-nablus-1.5793081> 
during confrontations with soldiers in the northern occupied West Bank 
on Tuesday night. The confrontations erupted as the Israeli military 
surrounded a house in Nablus belonging to the father of a Palestinian 
who Israel suspects of fatally stabbing another Israeli settler a day 
earlier.

Palestinian outlets identified the person slain in Nablus as Khalid Abu 
Tayeh:

The Palestinian Authority health ministry stated 
<http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/PA-Health-Ministry-says-one-killed-in-clashes-with-IDF-540889> 
that 32 people were injured by live fire during the confrontations and 
six were critically wounded.

Statements by Israeli leaders and intelligence bodies indicate that the 
Palestinian killed during the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday may have been 
extrajudicially executed, according to <http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=10369> 
the Palestinian Center for Human rights.

Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, 22, was shot and his body taken away by the Israeli 
military during the raid on Yamoun village near the city of Jenin, also 
in the northern West Bank.

The military had been in pursuit of Jarrar for more than a month 
following the 9 January slaying of Rabbi Raziel Shevach 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-man-killed-in-west-bank-drive-by-shooting-attack-1.5730223>, 
a resident of Havat Gilad, a West Bank settlement outpost not formally 
authorized by the Israeli government.

Two Palestinians were previously killed by Israeli soldiers during their 
campaign to find Jarrar.

    Pressure cooker procedure

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights stated that a large force of 
Israeli soldiers “accompanied [by] a bulldozer and backed by a drone and 
helicopter” moved into Yamoun village at 4am on Tuesday.

The force surrounded an abandoned building that was formerly used by the 
Palestinian Authority National Security Forces.

“Explosions and heavy shooting were heard in the area,” according to the 
rights group.

At around 7am Israeli media began reporting that Ahmad Nasser Jarrar was 
killed.

The army claimed 
<https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/israel-security-forces-kill-murderer-of-west-bank-rabbi-in-raid-1.5791086> 
that Jarrar was shot to death when he emerged from the surrounded 
building carrying an M-16 rifle.

The Israeli outlet /Ynet/ reported 
<https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5092027,00.html> that Jarrar 
had at first “refused to surrender,” and that the military launched a 
missile at the building, “following which combat engineering troops 
started demolishing the house with a bulldozer to pressure him to exit 
the structure.”

This Israeli army tactic, in which construction equipment is employed as 
a weapon, is known as the “pressure cooker” procedure 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/pressure-cooker-procedure>.

The army employed the tactic 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/one-generation-later-another-war-crime> 
during a massive military raid on the Wadi Burqin neighborhood near 
Jenin that began the night of 17 January and ended the next morning.

Israel initially claimed that a Palestinian killed during that raid was 
Ahmad Nasser Jarrar but Palestinian sources announced that the slain man 
was Ahmad Ismail Jarrar, a cousin of the wanted fighter. The army seized 
Ahmad Ismail Jarrar’s body during the operation and has yet to return 
his remains to his family for burial.

Occupation forces continued to raid homes 
<http://www.alhaq.org/documentation/weekly-focuses/1180-six-palestinians-killed-in-january-as-israel-continues-to-employ-excessive-use-of-force-in-the-opt> 
in the Jenin area in search of Ahmad Nasser Jarrar after he evaded 
arrest during the mid-January operation in Wadi Burqin.

A Palestinian teenager was killed during a subsequent raid in eastern 
Burqin on 3 February.

During that operation soldiers occupied rooftops and fired sound bombs 
and explosives, according to <http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=10361> the 
Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The army used loudspeakers to call on Ahmad Nasser Jarrar to surrender 
himself, threatening to demolish all houses in the neighborhood.

Palestinian youths gathered in the area of the operation and threw 
stones and empty bottles at the soldiers, who opened fire on them.

Ahmad Samir Mahmoud Ubeid, 18, was shot in the head and died from his 
injuries later that day.

Ahmad Nasser Jarrar was lauded as a hero by many Palestinians after 
avoiding capture by the military for several weeks.

Palestinians gathered in the streets of Burqin and celebrated the 
military’s failure to seize Jarrar during a raid on the village on Monday:

Israeli leaders greeted the news of Ahmad Nasser Jarrar’s death with 
praise of the army.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated 
<https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/israel-security-forces-kill-murderer-of-west-bank-rabbi-in-raid-1.5791086> 
that Israeli forces will “reach anyone who tries to attack Israeli 
citizens and we will bring them to justice. The same applies to the 
murderers of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal,” referring to the settler fatally 
stabbed on Monday.

Defense minister Avigdor Lieberman congratulated the army and police 
units involved, adding that “It was clear that it was only a matter of 
time until we hit the head of the cell that murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach.”

He implied that Israeli forces would also kill the Palestinian suspected 
in Monday’s slaying: “I hope and believe that in the near future we will 
also extend our hand to the murderer of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal.”

Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president, made a similar statement 
<https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/1.5791079>: “I have no doubt 
that the murderer of Itamar Ben Gal and his collaborators will be 
pursued until we reach them.”

The Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, made no mention of an exchange of 
fire in its statement on the operation that led to Ahmad Nasser Jarrar’s 
death. The absence of any claim that Jarrar opened fire on Israeli 
soldiers “indicat[es] that the operation aimed to kill Jarrar and not to 
arrest him,” according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

    Extrajudicial death penalty

Israel has a de facto extrajudicial death penalty 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/year-atrocities-palestine> 
for Palestinians it suspects of harming Israelis. Israeli media parrot 
the state’s condemnation of such Palestinians without charge or trial.

Israel’s /Ynet/ deferred to claims made by the Shin Bet by describing 
<https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5092027,00.html> Jarrar as 
“the head of the terror cell responsible for the murder of Rabbi Raziel 
Shevach,” adding that Jarrar “personally took part in the shooting,” 
though he was never tried in any court.

The Tel Aviv daily /Haaretz/ similarly referred to 
<https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/israel-security-forces-kill-murderer-of-west-bank-rabbi-in-raid-1.5791086> 
Jarrar as “head operative responsible for the January murder of Rabbi 
Raziel Shevach,” presenting the Shin Bet’s claims as verified fact.

/Haaretz/ likewise described Ahmad Ismail Jarrar, killed in the 17 
January raid, as “another man involved in the attack,” apparently 
treating the claims of the Shin Bet as facts requiring no further 
investigation or confirmation.

-- 
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