On October 31, 2001, a Palestinian man was killed by soldiers while parking his car in his sister's yard in Tulkarm. The Military Police Investigation Unit began investigating the incident some 18 months later and only after another 18 months had passed, deposed the soldiers and commanders involved. The investigative material indicates that the soldiers sought and received the battalion commander's "permission to kill", based on a suspicion that the man was directing gunfire toward the soldiers' posts via his cell phone. Based on this suspicion – never examined, before or since – the soldiers shot him with intent to kill, using a weapon which "can only kill", as they had put it.
HaMoked has waged
a long legal battle for the indictment of those responsible for the assassination.
HaMoked's petition to the HCJ was deleted after the state announced that the Military Advocate General (MAG) would explain his decision at the time not to transfer the case for the Attorney General's consideration, and would now reconsider his position. On October 6, 2013, the MAG having maintained his refusal to transfer the investigation file to the Attorney General, HaMoked contacted the Attorney General directly, requesting he examine the file and consider the possibility of filing indictments in the case.
On May 1, 2014,
in a brief response from the Attorney General's Office, HaMoked was informed that, like the Deputy State Attorney earlier on, the Attorney General supported the MAG's position, and would not request to examine the investigation file.
The obvious conclusion seems to be that the Israeli court system, with all its branches, does not intend to pursue the targeted killing of the Palestinian man, assassinated simply because he had spoken on his cell phone.
