Although ex-GSS head Ami Ayalon recently said that the recent fatal shooting by IDF soldiers of an unarmed Arab youth was totally illegal and unjustified, \"with the black flag of illegality hovering over it,\" it turns out that the case was not as simple as it originally appeared. Amos Harel, writing in Ha\'aretz today, says, \"The investigation into the shooting shows just how complicated the situation can be for IDF troops and officers in the territories, and how the color of the black flag mentioned by [Ayalon] can change its hue.\" The incident in question involved stoning attacks on Israeli citizens and soldiers by a group of Arab youths near Shechem. When the soldiers started advancing on the marauders, the attackers did not back off but rather continued throwing the rocks. \"I understood they were trying to draw me into an ambush,\" one of the officers later said, and he then fired warning shots in the air. Suddenly, 20 meters away, a person jumped up from behind a rock; the twilight hour prevented the soldiers from adequately identifying him or seeing if he was armed.
The officer remembered a similar incident some months before when Lt. (res.) Eyal Sela was shot and killed after being drawn into an ambush, and said that he now felt his troops were in danger. He therefore fired two shots at the figure who had jumped up from behind the rock, and the 15-year-old youth was hit in the head. An army helicopter evacuated him to a hospital, where he later died. Col. Yossi Adiri decided that the shooting was justified, but the IDF Yesha commander, Brig.-Gen. Gershon Yitzchak, who received differing opinions on the matter, asked Adiri to further his inquiry before final conclusions are drawn. Ha\'aretz quoted a senior officer who reviewed the inquiry findings saying, \"If the situation were the same tomorrow, I would want my troops to behave exactly the same way - and remain alive.\"
The officer remembered a similar incident some months before when Lt. (res.) Eyal Sela was shot and killed after being drawn into an ambush, and said that he now felt his troops were in danger. He therefore fired two shots at the figure who had jumped up from behind the rock, and the 15-year-old youth was hit in the head. An army helicopter evacuated him to a hospital, where he later died. Col. Yossi Adiri decided that the shooting was justified, but the IDF Yesha commander, Brig.-Gen. Gershon Yitzchak, who received differing opinions on the matter, asked Adiri to further his inquiry before final conclusions are drawn. Ha\'aretz quoted a senior officer who reviewed the inquiry findings saying, \"If the situation were the same tomorrow, I would want my troops to behave exactly the same way - and remain alive.\"