Defense Minister Ehud Barak has instructed his ministry’s legal counsel to work with the Justice Ministry to stop Yesha residents from suing IDF officers.
The instructions are seen to be a response to at least two recent court suits: One against a Civil Administration officer for running over a Jewish resident near Shilo, and another against IDF officers for razing the Yad Yair outpost even after the army had received a faxed copy of a Supreme Court restraining order against the demolition.
In addition, two policemen have recently been convicted of using undue violence against Jewish pro-Land of Israel protestors.
Barak’s office released a statement saying, “The Defense Minister views gravely the attempt by extremist elements to terrorize IDF officers and office-holders by filing personal court suits against them with the goal of preventing them from carrying out their jobs properly.”
“Officers and soldiers who act in the framework of their jobs will receive full backing and support from the State and the defense establishment, and every attempt to restrict them will be met with firm opposition,” the statement continued.
The statement was reported to be a response to recent court suits filed by Jewish elements in Judea and Samaria against IDF officers – although Dan Eldad, Special Missions Head in the State Prosecution, says this was not the original intention. Eldad had just sent a letter to IDF officers, promising to support them in the event that they are sued by either Arabs or Jews.
However, circumstantial evidence indicates that Jewish litigants are the targets of the new instructions – and prominent Yesha figures have responded in kind. Orit Strook, head of the Yesha Civil Rights organization, says, “State employees that caused damage in the course of actions they took as emissaries of the State need not, according to law, be responsible for the damage. However, this is true only when they act correctly and properly within the framework of the law. Soldiers can raze many outposts without being sued – but only if they do not go beyond the law.”
'Don't Preach to Us!'
In addition, Itzik Shadmi – a Lt.-Col. in the reserves and a former IDF Deputy Brigade Commander – wrote to Central Commander Gen. Gadi Shamni in response to the latter’s remarks about “false complaints” on the part of Yesha residents against IDF personnel.
Shadmi wrote sharply, “Don’t preach to us. The best of our sons are the fighters and officers in the most elite IDF units, and the IDF belongs to us much more than it does to you.”
“We saw how you abandoned Lt. Adam Malul and Sgt. Evyatar Gadasi to the mean-spirited suits filed by extremist left- groups," Shadmi wrote, "and we saw how you took action against Brigade Commander Col. Itai Verub for testifying in favor of his underling, Lt. Malul.” Malul has been in detention for months for using violence while arresting an Arab in Kafr Kadum.
The Lawyer and the Pool
The law suit regarding the Yad Yair destruction was filed by Attorney Doron Nir-Tzvi on behalf of the family that lived there and the Yad Yair association.
Just over a year ago, Civil Administration and police officials destroyed a small swimming pool belonging to Attorney Nir-Tzvi outside his home in the small Jewish neighborhood of Havot Yair. Havot Yair is located in Samaria, 15 miles east of Herzliyah. The lawyer said at the time that he thinks he knows why only he was targeted: "There are 22 families here, and the fact that they hit only the pool and not the other houses is because they are trying to terrorize a lawyer who has been representing [nationalist] anti-establishment causes for ten years… I am comforted by the fact that at this very hour, dozens of houses are being built in Jewish towns all over Judea and Samaria.”