Nissenkorn: PM failed at politicizing case to attack Shai Nitzan.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBBedouin men, residents of Umm Al-Hiran, a Bedouin village which is not recognised by the Israeli government, speak during a protest against the building of a Jewish community on the land of Umm Al-Hiran, in Israel's southern Negev desert August 27, 2015(photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
Justice Ministry oversight czar Judge David Rozen on Monday had some criticism for aspects of law enforcement’s handling of a deadly incident at Umm al-Hiran in the South in January 2017, but cleared former state attorney Shai Nitzan of any politicization allegations.During the incident, a policeman and a Bedouin were both killed during protests surrounding the state’s demolition of unrecognized Bedouin residences at Umm al-Hiran.In September 2020, then-justice minister Avi Nissenkorn asked Rozen to probe the incident after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Nitzan of politicizing the incident and acting in a way that would lead to undermining the prime minister.Rozen had criticism for some of the police involved in the incident and left some unanswered questions, but effectively rejected Netanyahu’s allegations against Nitzan.Unlike attacks from the Likud on law enforcement and attempts to connect the issue to the alleged mistreatment of Netanyahu, Nissenkorn had said that the review should stay focused on whether the prosecution mistreated Yacoub Abu al-Kaeean, the Bedouin who was killed.Rozen has criticized the prosecution harshly at times, but generally supports it as a vital institution which tries its best to make non-politicized calls.The ministry oversight watchdog has unique credibility as the one who sent former prime minister Ehud Olmert to prison.Nissenkorn slammed Netanyahu on Sunday saying that Rozen’s decision exposed the fact that it was the prime minister who had tried to politicize the incident, not law enforcement.A spokesman for Netanyahu declined to comment.The former justice minister’s request for Rozen to review the incident came shortly after a failed attempt by Public Security Minister Amir Ohana to get the state comptroller to probe the state prosecution in a broader way.Netanyahu and Ohana were both responding to a Channel 12 report.The Channel 12 report showed embarrassing internal emails between Nitzan and then Police Investigations Department (PID) chief Uri Carmel in which they condemned the behavior of then police chief Roni Alsheich for allegedly trying to cover for his officers.In May 2018, then-state attorney Shai Nitzan decided to close the criminal probes of Kaeean and policeman Erez Levi.Nitzan said that after reviewing additional evidence from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), neither he nor the agency could determine whether terror motives were involved on the part of the Bedouin.He said that either way, the police involved in shooting Kaeean had not committed a crime. Whether Kaeean had been innocent or not, he said that the police had reasonably felt in danger by the circumstances – even if what occurred was a tragic misunderstanding.Rozen did not express a clear opinion about Nitzan’s decision on those issues, though he noted that the former state attorney had based his decision on a professional review of the evidence as well as the view of Carmel.Nitzan had also directed the police to further investigate whether the police involved in killing Kaeean should be disciplined.Further, he said the police must look into whether their officers had been properly prepared for the sensitivity of the situation, whether the victim’s medical care had been sufficient and whether there should be consequences for the policemen involved having contradictory accounts.Here, Rozen’s criticism was the strongest, with him saying that the police had ignored Nitzan’s directives and failed to discipline the police officers involved in the incident.Rozen said that the prosecution, PID and the general police must streamline the process for disciplining police in such cases so that a directive to discipline officers cannot be ignored.IN FEBRUARY 2018, the PID filed a report regarding the Kaeean and Levi cases.Kaeean was killed in disputed circumstances during the January 2017 demolitions and protests.Initially, the police and many right-wing politicians labeled him a terrorist after the car he was driving ran over and killed border policeman Levi.But subsequently, PID was called in to probe police for possibly having illegally shot Kaeean, in which case the Bedouin’s vehicle may only have run over Levi after Kaeean was shot and possibly already dead, but with the vehicle still in drive.PID’s probe of the police for shooting Kaeean led to fierce tensions with the Police – even though its initial recommendations to the state prosecution were not to indict any policemen.Furthermore, the PID report narrates a sub-dispute which blew up publicly between the PID and the police when the department reopened the probe to review a Shin Bet document regarding the incident.
