Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., November 03, 2009 Cheshvan 16, 5770 | | Israel Time: 13:25 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books
Share |
Last update - 08:56 02/11/2009
Would Israel arrest a Jewish terrorist with only Arab victims?
By Avi Issacharoff
Tags: Israel News, Avi Issacharoff 

It's reasonable to assume that if Yaakov (Jack) Teitel had focused only on attacking Palestinians, he would have encountered few problems with law-enforcement authorities. His big mistake, it seems, was targeting non-Arabs as well.

Experience - and statistics - show that Israeli law enforcement is remarkably lax when it comes to tackling violence against Palestinians. Twelve years ago, Teitel confessed to killing two Arabs and then took a break from such activity. Sure, he was detained for questioning after the murder of shepherd Issa Mahamra, but he was released due to insufficient evidence. As with many other cases of murder and violence committed against Palestinians, the story of the shepherd from Yatta and the taxi driver from East Jerusalem disappeared into oblivion - until Teitel returned and attempted to harm Jews, bringing the wrath of public opinion, the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police down on his head.

The (justifiably) prevailing feeling among Palestinians in the West Bank is that their blood is of no consequence. It's hard to find a Palestinian today who will make an effort to approach the Israeli police about a settler assault, unless Israeli human-rights groups help him. The way Palestinians in the territories see it, Israeli law is enforced only if Jews are harmed, while incidents in which Palestinians are murdered, beaten or otherwise wounded are treated cursorily at best - and more often, are ignored entirely.
Advertisement
For instance, at least six shooting attacks against Palestinians in 2001-2002 have remained unsolved. The most shocking incident took place in July 2001, when three members of the Tamaizi family were shot to death by a man in a skullcap, according to relatives. The gunman asked the driver of the vehicle to stop, as it drove from one end of the village of Idna to the other, after a family wedding. When it stopped, he opened fire. But it's doubtful that Israelis remember that 3-month-old Dai Marwan Tamaizi, born after his parents underwent 14 years of fertility treatments, was killed that day - as were Mohammed Salameh Tamaizi, 27, an only child, and Mohammed Hilmi al-Tamaizi, 24, who was engaged to be married.

One relative recalled last night that to this day, the Israeli authorities have not bothered to update the family on the outcome of their investigation.

Investigations by Palestinian-rights advocacy group Yesh Din has found that 90 percent of police investigations of cases in which Israelis are suspected of committing offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank are left unsolved and are closed. In a 2006 case, four settlers were suspected of beating an elderly Palestinian man with a rifle, leaving him unconscious for three weeks - but police didn't check the alibis of two of the suspects, and a third wasn't even questioned.

There are many more such incidents that indicate that the impression of Palestinians in the West Bank is rooted in reality. Maybe it's Arab terrorists simply interest the law-enforcement authorities more than Jewish terrorists.

Related articles:
  • Who is suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel?
  • Yesh Din report: Only 8% of Palestinian complaints against settlers result in indictment
  • IDF may try officers who justified violence against Palestinian civilians
    • PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
    Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Obama? No thanks
    Why, despite high percentages of support for peace, do most Israelis dislike Obama?
    Oshrenko killer found
    Man killed three generations of Rishon Lezion family after they fired him from their restaurant
      1.   When racial segregation is encouraged 04:20  |  Marc Leb 02/11/09
      2.   Imprison them or deport them 04:53  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 02/11/09
      3.   A rhetorical question which by inference needs no answer! 05:04  |  Shiv 02/11/09
      4.   Arab Only? 05:45  |  Chet 02/11/09
      5.   Israel is democratic but the majority of voters are Jewish 05:49  |  Bloodyscot 02/11/09
      6.   Typical Issacharoff question 06:25  |  sw 02/11/09
      7.   This is how Israel radicalized the Palestinians 06:56  |  C2 02/11/09
      8.   To sw at #3 06:56  |  Tim 02/11/09
      9.   I think Tsukerman ( or Sakharov? ) is touting current government 07:37  |  Miron 02/11/09
      10.   What means this question 08:05  |  dani.a 02/11/09
      11.   Palestinians never arrest murderers of Jews: all are heroes 08:10  |  Joe Sittizen 02/11/09
      12.   Why not? 08:44  |  Avi Horowitz 02/11/09
      13.   Palestinians cooperating with the IDF 08:53  |  Palestinian Brit 02/11/09
      14.   Am i Naive? I have always felt Issacharof has integrity..so if.. 09:09  |  meir gush etzion 02/11/09
      15.   murdererz of zionists, Joe... 09:16  |  John 02/11/09
      16.   We set the example 09:25  |  james hazan 02/11/09
      17.   "lax" now there`s a word in need of quotation marks here 10:34  |  John 02/11/09
      18.   Is it just proven that he is a terrorist? 11:11  |  Logical 02/11/09
      19.   Virtually every story on this site 11:25  |  Linichka 02/11/09
      20.   Good by comparison 11:25  |  Giorgio Bentivoglio 02/11/09
      21.   Normal behaviour for an apartheid state 11:45  |  vic. b 02/11/09
      22.   asking the question 14:12  |  rm 02/11/09
      23.   For too long Jewish terrorism has been overlooked 14:13  |  LS 02/11/09
      24.   Jewish Terrorists and Palestinian Terrorists 14:20  |  Stephen Connor 02/11/09
      25.   Imprison them and deport them 14:23  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 02/11/09
      26.   #3 SW - Nonsense 14:28  |  Adam 02/11/09
      27.   Yesh Dinl 15:18  |  Stephen Connor 02/11/09
      28.   Would...? Would...? Would...? 15:22  |  Israeli citizen 02/11/09
      29.   Of course not, Israel`s double standards will go down in history 16:00  |  Ezra 02/11/09
      30.   Do you mean again? 16:53  |  Gee 02/11/09
      31.   I don`t have a guilty conscience 19:25  |  Ilan 02/11/09
      32.   Issacharoff`s anti-Semitc libel 20:01  |  DAVID KAPLAN 02/11/09
      33.   Drop in the bucket 20:43  |  RfaelMoshe 02/11/09
      34.   The whole society is to be blamed not only settlers 22:41  |  C2 02/11/09
      35.   There is 1 Jewish Terrorist to Every 550 Palestinian Terrorists 00:21  |  Proud Israeli 03/11/09
      36.   #6 Yeah, stick your head in the sand, sw 02:57  |  Johnboy 03/11/09
      37.   Ilan, Ariel is an illegal colony by law... 03:42  |  BBSNews 03/11/09
      38.   Yes, it would. No doubt about it. 05:31  |  Fortuna Benmayor 03/11/09
      39.   Amira Hass 08:41  |  stella westwell 03/11/09
      40.   Ilan in Ariel - legally build you say? 08:44  |  stella westwell 03/11/09
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Date Local Jewish Singles
    Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    More Headlines
    13:04 MI chief: Hamas missiles can strike Tel Aviv
    12:46 U.K., France want Israel, PA to probe Goldstone war crimes claims
    12:51 Abbas tells Obama envoy he's adamant on settlement freeze
    11:47 Despite shady past, alleged killer of Rishon family allowed to make aliyah
    13:18 ANALYSIS / PA fury over U.S. policy on settlements paid off
    12:33 Petah Tikva man arrested for alleged rape of 10 children
    12:44 Memo to Jewish haters of Liberals: The Middle Ages are over
    13:04 Shin Bet suspects Jewish terrorist behind more murders
    10:04 TV ROUND-UP: Grisly murder of Rishon family solved; Ex-spy gunned down in Moscow
    06:58 Clinton says nuclear proposal to Iran `will not change`
    13:02 Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei lambasts U.S. as 'really arrogant power'
    11:03 IDF executes largest-ever terror attack simulation
    06:46 Why do Israelis dislike Barack Obama?
    04:26 Flying from Tel Aviv to London just got cheaper
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
    | Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
    | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved