Jewish Detainee in West Bank Firebomb Murders Alleges Torture
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM — Right-wing activists and police clashed at the entrance to Jerusalem during a demonstration against the continued detention of Jewish youth for alleged involvement in the firebombing of a Palestinian home.
The demonstration on Sunday night came a day after hundreds of protesters demonstrated in front of the home of Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen over allegations that the security service is torturing the suspects in order to extract information from them.
On Sunday, one of the minor detainees, a resident of the West Bank who was arrested three weeks ago, reportedly told a judge during a closed hearing at Petah Tikvah Magistrate’s Court that the torture was so bad that he tried to commit suicide in prison.
“Every day it goes up a level … I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t sleep tonight either, unless something changes. They are violently questioning me about something I can’t help them with, because I don’t know. They are taking me apart, bending my whole back, laughing and looking at me with contempt. The hell with it, what am I supposed to do?” the suspect reportedly told the judge, according to Haaretz.
“They yell at me, ‘Murderer, murderer!’ Where can I run? Where is their doubt that maybe I’m actually right? This is the worst injustice the State of Israel can do to a person,” he also reportedly said.
The Shin Bet denied the torture allegations and said that its investigations “are conducted in accordance with the law.” It said that the claim that one of the Jewish detainees attempted suicide is “baseless,” according to Haaretz.
The judge on Sunday ordered the remand for the teen to be extended.
On Sunday, the Shin Bet announced that there had been a new “development” in the investigation into the July 31 arson attack in the West Bank Palestinian town of Duma that left three members of one family dead in what is believed to be an attack by right-wing extremists.
No other details were disclosed by the Israeli media, since a gag order has been placed on the investigation. Indictments are expected to be filed this week, according to reports.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
