Serious Problems with Duma Indictment
The many contradictions that arise from the indictment of Amiram Benoliel have only shown it’s a complete farce meant to frame innocent Jews.
Amiram Benoliel was indicted today (Jan. 3rd) in connection with the arson that occurred in Duma almost six months ago. His lawyer, Itamar Ben Gvir, claims that his client is innocent and his confession was the result of torture applied by Shabak interrogators.
The contradictions between previously reported facts on the case and the claims in the indictment are far and wide. Claims in the indictment dispute previous testimony from Arabs in the village, as well as previous claims made by the Shabak and members of the security establishment.
A cell or an individual?
The most unbelievable part of the indictment is the argument that Benoliel managed to commit the attack all by himself.
From the text of the indictment: “When he [Benoliel] got to the edge of the village, he tied his shirt over his head in order to hide his face and he placed gloves on his hands. In order to increase the impact of the attack and ensure that the chosen house was not abandoned, Benoliel looked for a house that had clear signs of being inhabited. First, he spray painted the words ‘Revenge’ and ‘Long live the king’ on a two-story house belonging to Mamon Dawabsha, and then he threw a firebomb through the window of the house in order to kill the inhabitants. The house, which was empty, lit up in flames. Immediately afterwards, Benoliel moved on to the house belonging to Saad and Reham Dawabsha, with the second firebomb in his hands. After attempting to unsuccessfully open two windows, he opened the window of the bedroom where the family was sleeping, lit the firebomb, threw it past the window, and fled.”
First of all, the indictment says that Benoliel specifically looked for inhabited houses, yet somehow even still, the first house selected was uninhabited. More strange however, is the long list of actions that Benoliel managed to accomplish by himself undetected. According to the indictment, he managed to spray paint on two walls of one house, throw a firebomb into a first house, move to a second house, unsuccessfully open two windows, successfully open a third window and throw a firebomb all without being detected. It is rather difficult to believe that a single individual with no military training managed to perform all of these actions without making any noise to awaken neighbors in the middle of an Arab village.
Further, the indictment claims that Benoliel and a minor, E.O., planned to meet nearby before carrying out the attack, yet for some reason the two did not meet and Benoliel decided to carry out the attack alone. The indictment does not explain why O.E. did not make it to this alleged planned rendezvous or why this did not bother Benoliel.
Witnesses: Two or four perpetrators
Not only do the claims in the indictment contradict basic logic, but they even contradict previous testimony. Moti Almoz, the IDF spokesman, said after the attack that two individuals who had their faces covered, approached the second house and threw a firebomb into it.
The Israeli news site, Walla, quoted at the time, a Dawabsha family member who said, “We identified four settlers running away. Residents from the village chased after them, but they escaped to Maale Ephraim.”
Also quoted in Walla and in Haaretz, was a statement by Muhammad Darwish, a neighbor of the Dawabsha family, who reported running to the scene after his son told him a fire had broken out. Darkish claimed to have seen two individuals with their faces covered, one of whom was standing by the burned baby and another by the burned mother. It is noteworthy that today (Jan. 3rd) in an interview with Channel 1 news in Israel, Darwish repeated his claims of seeing two people with their faces covered.
Another report by security forces also suggests that several people carried to the attack. Hakol Hayehudi received a copy of an army report from that night which said that at 4:03AM, “Settlers were seen walking from the northern end of Duma towards Adei Ad.” Here too, the report mentioned multiple individuals.
In practice, none of the previous testimony or evidence agrees with the claim in the indictment that there was only a single perpetrator. Every piece of testimony in the media and by members of the security establishment said that a cell composed of several individuals carried out the attack.
Shabak agent carried out the attack?
The fact that the evidence points to several individuals being involved in the attack has strengthened claims that Benoliel’s confession was made under the stress of Shabak torture and was not legitimate.
Yet aside from raising questions about the validity of Benoliel’s confession, the strange indictment has led to conspiracy theories that a Shabak informant actually carried out the attack or was involved in it in some way.
One claim being reported is that only one indictment was served because another one of the individuals involved in the attack was a Shabak informant.
It is worth noting that an Arab Member of Knesset, Basel Ghattas, created a firestorm during a Knesset session about a month ago when he asked Minister Yisrael Katz a question about the investigation. At the time the saga was still under a total gag order and Ghattas asked, “Is it true that the incident being investigated in recent days is the incident of… [the words, ‘the murder of the Dawabsha family,’ were redacted at the time]? If so, are foreign reporters correct in claiming that the Shabak does not want to file indictments not because they don’t want to give up their sources, but rather because they want to hide their failure and avoid the discovery of another Avishai Raviv?”
Another fact fueling the conspiracy theories is the refusal of the Shabak to release the details of the investigation and interrogation. Aside from filing the indictments today, the prosecution filed a special request that they not be required to publicize the interrogation methods used by the Shabak and that these methods remain under gag order.
Elements close to the investigation have reported to Hakol Hayehudi that not only does the Shabak want to avoid the publication of the torture methods used on the suspects, but more importantly, they want to prevent the public from knowing about the various ‘intelligence sources’ that were involved in the attack and the investigation.
Finally, a report on the Hebrew Maariv news site, also published today, quoted a Shabak official who said that it is possible that the Duma arson has not yet been entirely solved. According to the anonymous official, the attack may have been carried out by several individuals who have not yet been caught. The publication of this statement, on the very day that an indictment was filed, has even further strengthened the belief that the story being told in the indictment is at the very least incomplete and quite possibly a total fabrication.
