Shin Bet says second breakthrough made in Duma investigation

No further details can be published due to media ban; Shin Bet says it is investigating a Jewish terrorist organization bent on toppling Israel and destabilizing the region.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Updated: DECEMBER 21, 2015 04:14
The Dawabsha family home in Duma, July 2015 (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The Dawabsha family home in Duma, July 2015
(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency said on Sunday there has been a second breakthrough in its investigation into the July 31 arson attack on two homes in Duma, southeast of Nablus, in which a Palestinian toddler and his parents were murdered.
“The Shin Bet confirms that in recent days, there has been progress in the investigation into the Duma terrorist attack. All other details pertaining to the investigation are under a media ban,” the agency said.
On December 3, the Shin Bet said a number of Israeli youths arrested in recent days were being questioned “in the context of concrete suspicions” related to the attack.
In response to claims of torture made by lawyers form the Honenu legal NGO representing Jewish suspects, the Shin Bet issued a detailed denial on Thursday.
“Recently, a Jewish terrorist organization has been investigated. Its operatives are suspected of severe terrorist attacks, which endangered lives, holy sites, and property,” the agency said.
“This organization is characterized by an extreme, anti-Zionist ideology, which aims to use violent means to topple the State of Israel, including through terrorist acts to promote its goals,” it added.
“Terrorist attacks carried out by the organization led to, among others, the murder of three innocent Palestinians, and as a result, contributed to instability in the region, and worsened the security situation,” the Shin Bet continued.
To eliminate the significant security threat posed by members of the group, and to meet the obligation of preventing further acts of murder, a number of “central operatives in the terrorist organization have been arrested for questioning.
They have been interrogated intensively on the suspicion attributed to them,” the agency said.
“Unfortunately, since the arrests, the Shin Bet has identified an ongoing initiative aimed at slandering the organization and its employees, and disrupting its operational work.
This effort is worthy of all condemnation, and it will not stop the Shin Bet, as the agent of the State of Israel, under its state values, from carrying out its work,” the agency stated.
Honenu said some of the suspects have been allowed to meet with their lawyers for the first time after 21 days of being in custody, adding that “one of the interrogators attacked the private parts of one of the suspects, while the other changed the seating position of a minor on a chair while he was bound, until he could no longer feel his limbs.”


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