|
|
Dawabsha family, july 31 2015 burned by settlers |
16 may 2019
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki urged the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, to begin immediate investigation into the situation of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, on Wednesday.
During a meeting with Bensouda in The Hague, al-Malki said that the ICC should begin investigating Israeli measures in the occupied territories as soon as possible since the upcoming Israeli government intends to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli law on the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories in an illegal way.
He mentioned how the Israeli courts dropped the murder charge from the perpetrators of the arson attack at the Dawabshe family in the Duma village that resulted in the burning to death of an 18-month-old toddler and his parents as well as the serious injury of his brother.
Al-Malki said the Israeli legal system is not a fair one and is actually part of the Israeli military occupation system, which requires the ICC to bring justice to the Palestinian victims of Israeli atrocities.
He also expressed Palestine’s support for the ICC in light of the US threats against it, urging it to continue to do its work as required from it.
Al-Malki presented an annual report on the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people to Bensouda.
He also earlier submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) an indictment list against the US for illegally moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
During a meeting with Bensouda in The Hague, al-Malki said that the ICC should begin investigating Israeli measures in the occupied territories as soon as possible since the upcoming Israeli government intends to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli law on the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories in an illegal way.
He mentioned how the Israeli courts dropped the murder charge from the perpetrators of the arson attack at the Dawabshe family in the Duma village that resulted in the burning to death of an 18-month-old toddler and his parents as well as the serious injury of his brother.
Al-Malki said the Israeli legal system is not a fair one and is actually part of the Israeli military occupation system, which requires the ICC to bring justice to the Palestinian victims of Israeli atrocities.
He also expressed Palestine’s support for the ICC in light of the US threats against it, urging it to continue to do its work as required from it.
Al-Malki presented an annual report on the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people to Bensouda.
He also earlier submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) an indictment list against the US for illegally moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
15 may 2019
Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has stated, Tuesday, that the Israeli court that “acquitted the Israeli terrorist, who participated in the firebombing of Dawabsha family home in 2015, killing the father, mother and one of their children, and seriously wounding the only surviving child, is sending a green light to the colonists to commit more crimes against the Palestinian civilians.”
Fares said that, by acquitting the murderer, the Israeli so-called “Legal System,” topped by the “Justice Ministry,” is sending Israeli fanatics clear messages that they can commit horrific crimes against the Palestinian civilians and get away with it.
He added that Israeli courts, and the “Legal System” became the umbrella that shelters criminals from being held accountable for their crimes against the Palestinian people, their homes, lands and even their holy sites.
“The acquittal of this murderer proves, once again, that not only the Israeli police, but all of its departments and ministries, including by the head of the state, the Prime Minister, and its so-called legal system are involved in these ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people,” he said, “There have been hundreds of incidents were soldiers and paramilitary colonialist settlers, have executed Palestinians, burnt their homes and lands, and got away with these crimes unscathed with no accountability for their horrific crimes.”
The official also said that whenever the Israeli courts are looking into cases against Palestinian detainees, who are reportedly involved, or believed to be involved, in attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers, and without legal proof, the detainees are largely sentenced to multiple life terms, their homes are always demolished and several members of their families are imprisoned.
Fares called on various international legal and human rights groups to intervene, and put an end to the ongoing and escalating Israeli crimes, including the serious violations by Israel’s own “legal system,” and its politicians.
|Israeli Court Rules to Dismiss Confession of Israeli Charged with Burning Palestinian Family to Death|
On July 31st, 2015, extremist Israeli settlers infiltrated the village of Douma, south of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank, under cover of darkness, to firebomb the Dawabsha’ home, where the family of four were asleep in their beds.
The father Saad, 32, mother Reham, 27, and 18-month-old Ali were burned to death, while 4-year-old Ahmad suffered from 3rd degree burns over most of his body.
Fares said that, by acquitting the murderer, the Israeli so-called “Legal System,” topped by the “Justice Ministry,” is sending Israeli fanatics clear messages that they can commit horrific crimes against the Palestinian civilians and get away with it.
He added that Israeli courts, and the “Legal System” became the umbrella that shelters criminals from being held accountable for their crimes against the Palestinian people, their homes, lands and even their holy sites.
“The acquittal of this murderer proves, once again, that not only the Israeli police, but all of its departments and ministries, including by the head of the state, the Prime Minister, and its so-called legal system are involved in these ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people,” he said, “There have been hundreds of incidents were soldiers and paramilitary colonialist settlers, have executed Palestinians, burnt their homes and lands, and got away with these crimes unscathed with no accountability for their horrific crimes.”
The official also said that whenever the Israeli courts are looking into cases against Palestinian detainees, who are reportedly involved, or believed to be involved, in attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers, and without legal proof, the detainees are largely sentenced to multiple life terms, their homes are always demolished and several members of their families are imprisoned.
Fares called on various international legal and human rights groups to intervene, and put an end to the ongoing and escalating Israeli crimes, including the serious violations by Israel’s own “legal system,” and its politicians.
|Israeli Court Rules to Dismiss Confession of Israeli Charged with Burning Palestinian Family to Death|
On July 31st, 2015, extremist Israeli settlers infiltrated the village of Douma, south of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank, under cover of darkness, to firebomb the Dawabsha’ home, where the family of four were asleep in their beds.
The father Saad, 32, mother Reham, 27, and 18-month-old Ali were burned to death, while 4-year-old Ahmad suffered from 3rd degree burns over most of his body.
14 may 2019
Amiram Ben-Uliel, charged for the three murders
Several Palestinian organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, denounced Israeli court’s exoneration of a member of an extremist Jewish settler suspected of committing the murder of three members of the Palestinian Dawabsha family, in 2015.
The July 31, 2015 firebomb attack of the Dawabsha home in the occupied West Bank village of Douma, killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child and his parents in the fire, who were all burnt to death, while the older son survived the attack, suffering from severe burns.
The father Saad, 32, mother Reham, 27, and 18-month-old Ali were killed in the attack.
Wafa News Agency reported that in a plea bargain, the murder charges were dropped against the murder suspect, when he claimed that he was a minor at the time of the attack.
The Ministry asserted that the court was complicit in the cover up for the murderers, calling it a crime in itself, and proclaimed that this “encourages other colonists to carry on murdering innocent Palestinians.”
Calling on the International Criminal Court, the Foreign Ministry demanded an immediate investigation into Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians, claiming the Israeli judicial system has failed to provide justice for Palestinians under occupation, and is only used against them.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestinian Prisoners Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, all strongly denounced the exoneration.
Several Palestinian organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, denounced Israeli court’s exoneration of a member of an extremist Jewish settler suspected of committing the murder of three members of the Palestinian Dawabsha family, in 2015.
The July 31, 2015 firebomb attack of the Dawabsha home in the occupied West Bank village of Douma, killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child and his parents in the fire, who were all burnt to death, while the older son survived the attack, suffering from severe burns.
The father Saad, 32, mother Reham, 27, and 18-month-old Ali were killed in the attack.
Wafa News Agency reported that in a plea bargain, the murder charges were dropped against the murder suspect, when he claimed that he was a minor at the time of the attack.
The Ministry asserted that the court was complicit in the cover up for the murderers, calling it a crime in itself, and proclaimed that this “encourages other colonists to carry on murdering innocent Palestinians.”
Calling on the International Criminal Court, the Foreign Ministry demanded an immediate investigation into Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians, claiming the Israeli judicial system has failed to provide justice for Palestinians under occupation, and is only used against them.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestinian Prisoners Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, all strongly denounced the exoneration.
12 may 2019
Amiram Ben-Uliel, charged for the three murders
The unnamed young man, a minor during the 2015 arson attack that killed the Dawabsheh family, confessed to conspiring to commit a crime motivated by racism; prior confession to Shin Bet agents was disqualified as ruled extracted under duress
A deal signed Sunday between the State Prosecutor and an unnamed minor indicted for conspiring to the 2015 murder off Palestinian family clears the defendant of the murder conspiracy charge.
Riham and Saad Dawabsha were killed along with their 18-month-old son Ali in an arson attack on their West Bank home in July 2015. Their other son, Ahmed, who was then 5, was severely burned in the attack.
The plea bargain convicts the young man of conspiring to commit a crime motivated by racism. However, the indictment was amended to define the crime as arson, not murder, as stated in the original indictment.
The defendant confessed to the crime, and the state requested a prison sentence of five and a half years.
The defendant's' attorney, Adi Keidar of Honenu, a legal aid organization that helps Israelis accused of crimes against Palestinians, said that "the plea bargain and the indictment set a precedent for an Israeli court. It disqualifies the defendant's prior confession and determines it was collected from him using severe violence."
"The court criticized the Shin Bet security service and the State Prosecutor's Office (for their behavior)," said Keidar. "The new indictment is entirely different and has no trace of harming so much as a hair on a person's head. It is entirely unrelated to the murder in the village of Duma (of the Dawabsha family).
"It's time that the defendant tries to recover… We hope that one day, he'll be able to share the horrors he has been through during the Shin Bet investigations," said Keidar.
The State Prosecutor's Office said that the young man "wasn't charged of being involved in the murder scene to begin with, but rather with the planning of the attack," and added that "the defendant's distance from the scene makes it hard to prove an intention to kill, necessary to convict him of conspiring to murder."
The State added that the new indictment determines that the young man was a member of a terror organization.
On January 2016, the State Prosecutor's Office indicted the defendant, a resident of a West Bank settlement who was 17 at the time, for involvement in the murders of the Dawabshe family.
The unnamed defendant was originally indicted of conspiring to murder and for taking part in planning the crime. He was also indicted for six other crimes not related to the Duma murders.
Amiram Ben-Uliel, then 21, from Jerusalem, was directly charged with the murders of the Dawabshe family, and confessed to the crimes.
Ben-Uliel is currently held for 3 counts of murder for hurling a Molotov cocktail into the bedroom of the sleeping Dawabsheh family.
Ben-Uliel also faces two counts of attempted murder, arson and conspiring to commit a hate crime.
Both defendants denied the charges against them during trial, despite their confessions during the investigation, and Ben-Uliel's reenactment of the murder. Both claimed that confessions were extracted using violence.
On June 2018, the court determined that the confessions of the two men, made on a specific day during the investigation process, were extracted by force and would be disqualified. However, other parts of their testimony, collected on all other days of the investigation, remained eligible to be used in trial.
The unnamed young man, a minor during the 2015 arson attack that killed the Dawabsheh family, confessed to conspiring to commit a crime motivated by racism; prior confession to Shin Bet agents was disqualified as ruled extracted under duress
A deal signed Sunday between the State Prosecutor and an unnamed minor indicted for conspiring to the 2015 murder off Palestinian family clears the defendant of the murder conspiracy charge.
Riham and Saad Dawabsha were killed along with their 18-month-old son Ali in an arson attack on their West Bank home in July 2015. Their other son, Ahmed, who was then 5, was severely burned in the attack.
The plea bargain convicts the young man of conspiring to commit a crime motivated by racism. However, the indictment was amended to define the crime as arson, not murder, as stated in the original indictment.
The defendant confessed to the crime, and the state requested a prison sentence of five and a half years.
The defendant's' attorney, Adi Keidar of Honenu, a legal aid organization that helps Israelis accused of crimes against Palestinians, said that "the plea bargain and the indictment set a precedent for an Israeli court. It disqualifies the defendant's prior confession and determines it was collected from him using severe violence."
"The court criticized the Shin Bet security service and the State Prosecutor's Office (for their behavior)," said Keidar. "The new indictment is entirely different and has no trace of harming so much as a hair on a person's head. It is entirely unrelated to the murder in the village of Duma (of the Dawabsha family).
"It's time that the defendant tries to recover… We hope that one day, he'll be able to share the horrors he has been through during the Shin Bet investigations," said Keidar.
The State Prosecutor's Office said that the young man "wasn't charged of being involved in the murder scene to begin with, but rather with the planning of the attack," and added that "the defendant's distance from the scene makes it hard to prove an intention to kill, necessary to convict him of conspiring to murder."
The State added that the new indictment determines that the young man was a member of a terror organization.
On January 2016, the State Prosecutor's Office indicted the defendant, a resident of a West Bank settlement who was 17 at the time, for involvement in the murders of the Dawabshe family.
The unnamed defendant was originally indicted of conspiring to murder and for taking part in planning the crime. He was also indicted for six other crimes not related to the Duma murders.
Amiram Ben-Uliel, then 21, from Jerusalem, was directly charged with the murders of the Dawabshe family, and confessed to the crimes.
Ben-Uliel is currently held for 3 counts of murder for hurling a Molotov cocktail into the bedroom of the sleeping Dawabsheh family.
Ben-Uliel also faces two counts of attempted murder, arson and conspiring to commit a hate crime.
Both defendants denied the charges against them during trial, despite their confessions during the investigation, and Ben-Uliel's reenactment of the murder. Both claimed that confessions were extracted using violence.
On June 2018, the court determined that the confessions of the two men, made on a specific day during the investigation process, were extracted by force and would be disqualified. However, other parts of their testimony, collected on all other days of the investigation, remained eligible to be used in trial.
30 jan 2019
Israeli authorities delivered demolition notices and halt of construction orders to several homes and schools in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, on Wednesday.
Coordinator of a local popular committee against the separation wall and settlements, Rateb al-Jbour, said Israeli authorities stormed the Masafer Yatta area and delivered halt of construction orders to several homes belonging to al-Dababseh family.
Al-Jbour also said that Israeli authorities delivered a demolition notice to a local mixed elementary school that had been previously demolished about four months ago by Israeli forces, however, was rebuilt in the meantime.
Israeli authorities seek to displace Masafer Yatta residents, in order to seize their lands, as part of an Israeli settlement expansion plan in the West Bank.
Around 3,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the Yatta region, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem.
The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone in the 1970s and were eventually allowed back following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.
Coordinator of a local popular committee against the separation wall and settlements, Rateb al-Jbour, said Israeli authorities stormed the Masafer Yatta area and delivered halt of construction orders to several homes belonging to al-Dababseh family.
Al-Jbour also said that Israeli authorities delivered a demolition notice to a local mixed elementary school that had been previously demolished about four months ago by Israeli forces, however, was rebuilt in the meantime.
Israeli authorities seek to displace Masafer Yatta residents, in order to seize their lands, as part of an Israeli settlement expansion plan in the West Bank.
Around 3,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the Yatta region, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem.
The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone in the 1970s and were eventually allowed back following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.
13 jan 2019
New details emerge in case of minor accused of vandalism and arson at a Jerusalem church, in which court found interrogation tactics to be abusive and highly inappropriate.
The confessions of a 17-year-old Israeli youth, charged with membership in a terror organization and various incidents of vandalism, were thrown on by the Lod Central District Court on the grounds that his confession had been coerced by investigators who posed as fellow inmates in a fake detention center, and who even threatened the teen with violence and rape.
The Jewish minor was arrested by the Shin Bet domestic security service back in 2015 in connection with the deadly arson attack against the Palestinian Dawabshe family in the West Bank village of Duma, but the court found the teenager's confession non-admissable.
In 2016, the minor was charged with a series of other offenses, which included insulting a religion with racial motivation, and arson and vandalism at the Dormition Abbey on Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion.
Following the charges, the minor was incarcerated at a fake detention center in Acre, erected in a ruse designed to extract information from him. He was placed in a cell together with others who were ostensibly dangerous criminals but were in fact undercover policemen placed there to eavesdrop and observe him.
At the time, the minor said things that tied him to some of the events attributed to him, but when he was taken for questioning by the Shin Bet he maintained his right to silence; but later admitted to the charges. After meeting his attorney he retracted his confession.
The court found that while incarcerated, the youth was subject to threats by his cellmates, the undercover policemen. Posing as serious criminals, the police officers accused the minor of being a snitch, and forced him to tell them about his crimes so that if he snitched on them, they would have incriminating material on him.
The court also found that one of the undercover policemen, Aviv, intimidated the youth into giving him half of his meal on the evening following a religious fast day. On another occasion he was prevented from performing the morning prayers with his Tefilin, a religious obligation.
In another incident described by the court, Aviv threatened the minor into entering a bathroom with him, and, as part of their deception and efforts to scare the youth, sounds could be heard from the next stall as if Arab prisoners were being cursed and harassed by interrogators.
In another tactic used to put pressure on the youth, drugs were concealed in his bed by his undercover cellmates who ordered him to stay mum. They later accused him of snitching on them. Furthermore, one of his cellmates would call him a “girl” and threatened to rape him.
The court ruled that the methods used to extract confessions from the minor crossed a line and were illegal. The judge reprimanded the police and Shin Bet for the abusive methods used to obtain confessions and wrote that considering the threats and intimidation he felt, the boy had no free choice when confessing to the crimes prompting the court to reject the confession.
“The state must ensure that a prisoner can perform his religious obligations while incarcerated,” the judge wrote in reference to the limitations imposed on the boy with regards to his prayers and Shabbat observance. The judge also stated that the Shin Bet was wrong in tying the minor to a chair for extensive periods of time.
The boy’s attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the court's decision, saying his client had been denied his basic rights. "This is an important day for Israeli democracy. The time has come for the Shin Bet and the police to know that the Hilltop Youth (young extreme -right settlers) also have basic rights. All red lines have been crossed in this investigation. I'm glad the court accepted our claim and disqualified the confession," Ben-Gvir said.
The prosecution said that they are studying the court’s decision in depth.
Intimidating questioning tactics
Dozens of minors from a West Bank religious school, questioned by the Shin Bet following the arrests of five of their classmates, claim that the Shin Bet used aggressive intimidation tactics when interrogating them.
The five Jewish minors were arrested on terror charges, including in relation to the death of a Palestinian mother of nine hit by a rock as she was traveling in a car with her family in the West Bank in October. Details of the case are still under gag order.
The five suspects who were arrested were prevented from meeting an attorney over the weekend and their counsel expressed concern that the Shin Bet would use the advantage to extract information via illegal methods. “Abusing the boys is dangerous for democracy,” said their attorney Itamar Ben Gvir.
Dozens of rabbis, educators and community leaders sent a sharply worded letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan accusing the Shin Bet of using illegal interrogation tactics and asking that they prevent the rights of the detainees from being trampled.
Israel Police said in response: “The investigation is being carried out under a gag order and consequently we cannot elaborate. That said, the police conduct investigations in a professional manner to uncover the truth while ensuring the rights of the suspect’s are protected.”
The Shin Bet also issued a response: “The Shin Bet’s primary objective is preventing acts of terror and all of its activities are performed in accordance with the law.
"Since the arrests, the Shin Bet has identified an intentional and ongoing effort by interested parties to defame the agency and its personnel and delegitimize its activity. This attempt is reprehensible, and it will not dissuade the Shin Bet from continuing its activity to thwart any kind of terrorism—Jewish or Palestinian," the agency said.
The confessions of a 17-year-old Israeli youth, charged with membership in a terror organization and various incidents of vandalism, were thrown on by the Lod Central District Court on the grounds that his confession had been coerced by investigators who posed as fellow inmates in a fake detention center, and who even threatened the teen with violence and rape.
The Jewish minor was arrested by the Shin Bet domestic security service back in 2015 in connection with the deadly arson attack against the Palestinian Dawabshe family in the West Bank village of Duma, but the court found the teenager's confession non-admissable.
In 2016, the minor was charged with a series of other offenses, which included insulting a religion with racial motivation, and arson and vandalism at the Dormition Abbey on Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion.
Following the charges, the minor was incarcerated at a fake detention center in Acre, erected in a ruse designed to extract information from him. He was placed in a cell together with others who were ostensibly dangerous criminals but were in fact undercover policemen placed there to eavesdrop and observe him.
At the time, the minor said things that tied him to some of the events attributed to him, but when he was taken for questioning by the Shin Bet he maintained his right to silence; but later admitted to the charges. After meeting his attorney he retracted his confession.
The court found that while incarcerated, the youth was subject to threats by his cellmates, the undercover policemen. Posing as serious criminals, the police officers accused the minor of being a snitch, and forced him to tell them about his crimes so that if he snitched on them, they would have incriminating material on him.
The court also found that one of the undercover policemen, Aviv, intimidated the youth into giving him half of his meal on the evening following a religious fast day. On another occasion he was prevented from performing the morning prayers with his Tefilin, a religious obligation.
In another incident described by the court, Aviv threatened the minor into entering a bathroom with him, and, as part of their deception and efforts to scare the youth, sounds could be heard from the next stall as if Arab prisoners were being cursed and harassed by interrogators.
In another tactic used to put pressure on the youth, drugs were concealed in his bed by his undercover cellmates who ordered him to stay mum. They later accused him of snitching on them. Furthermore, one of his cellmates would call him a “girl” and threatened to rape him.
The court ruled that the methods used to extract confessions from the minor crossed a line and were illegal. The judge reprimanded the police and Shin Bet for the abusive methods used to obtain confessions and wrote that considering the threats and intimidation he felt, the boy had no free choice when confessing to the crimes prompting the court to reject the confession.
“The state must ensure that a prisoner can perform his religious obligations while incarcerated,” the judge wrote in reference to the limitations imposed on the boy with regards to his prayers and Shabbat observance. The judge also stated that the Shin Bet was wrong in tying the minor to a chair for extensive periods of time.
The boy’s attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the court's decision, saying his client had been denied his basic rights. "This is an important day for Israeli democracy. The time has come for the Shin Bet and the police to know that the Hilltop Youth (young extreme -right settlers) also have basic rights. All red lines have been crossed in this investigation. I'm glad the court accepted our claim and disqualified the confession," Ben-Gvir said.
The prosecution said that they are studying the court’s decision in depth.
Intimidating questioning tactics
Dozens of minors from a West Bank religious school, questioned by the Shin Bet following the arrests of five of their classmates, claim that the Shin Bet used aggressive intimidation tactics when interrogating them.
The five Jewish minors were arrested on terror charges, including in relation to the death of a Palestinian mother of nine hit by a rock as she was traveling in a car with her family in the West Bank in October. Details of the case are still under gag order.
The five suspects who were arrested were prevented from meeting an attorney over the weekend and their counsel expressed concern that the Shin Bet would use the advantage to extract information via illegal methods. “Abusing the boys is dangerous for democracy,” said their attorney Itamar Ben Gvir.
Dozens of rabbis, educators and community leaders sent a sharply worded letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan accusing the Shin Bet of using illegal interrogation tactics and asking that they prevent the rights of the detainees from being trampled.
Israel Police said in response: “The investigation is being carried out under a gag order and consequently we cannot elaborate. That said, the police conduct investigations in a professional manner to uncover the truth while ensuring the rights of the suspect’s are protected.”
The Shin Bet also issued a response: “The Shin Bet’s primary objective is preventing acts of terror and all of its activities are performed in accordance with the law.
"Since the arrests, the Shin Bet has identified an intentional and ongoing effort by interested parties to defame the agency and its personnel and delegitimize its activity. This attempt is reprehensible, and it will not dissuade the Shin Bet from continuing its activity to thwart any kind of terrorism—Jewish or Palestinian," the agency said.
