How did the authorities, led Moshe Ya’alon know within hours that the Duma firebombing on July 31st, 2015, was the work of “Jewish Terrorists”? Serious investigations of arson normally take some time. Yes but thtese “Jewish Terrorists” referenced a community that had already been slandered and falsely libeled for various crimes for decades. When was the last time any person was found guilty after being accused of price-tag crimes? But who cares? The accusation alone is sufficient to paint the community black.
The speed of the denunciations made thinkers suspicious. Was this another Shabak provocation, like Avishai Raviv before Rabin's murder, that was supposed to be a common variety price-tag crime, but spiraled out of control to become a case of nationalistically motivated murder?
Only 24 days later there was another arson in Duma against a Dawabshe brother’s home. It intrigued the then-writer for Maariv, Sarah Beck to do her own investigation. She found many strange actions by the Shabak that made no logical sense. And sure enough, even after arresting a group of supposed Jewish terrorists and terrorizing them, the Shabak came up with nothing. It should interest the reader that there were at least two more such arson attacks in Duma in the following months involving a Dawabshe relative.
Many have written about this case, foremost among them Dr. Martin Sherman, who has written many detailed articles doubting the official narrative. Prof. Boaz Sangero wrote a scathing piece following the guilty verdict. Such articles are not easily found using Google search for some reason.
I’d like to suggest that if Amiram Ben-Uliel—who will now have spent more than six years in solitary confinement—was truly guilty of the crime he was forced to confess, the Shabak and their supporters among the authorities would not have had to commit so many crimes to find him guilty.
The root of this injustice took place five years earlier on July 14, 2010, when the “settler” Chaim Perlman was arrested. He embarrassed the Shabak. He did so in order to prove that the murder charges that he was being framed for, were revenge for his refusal to murder the Arab leader Sheikh Raed Salah. The offer —he was not supposed to refuse —he secretly recorded and then arranged conditionally to have it broadcast on Channel 2 if and when he, Perlman, was arrested. This was a major embarrassment to the agent known as “Dada” and the Shin Bet. On these recordings, Dada can be heard exhorting him to go to an “Arab village” to “turn it into a fireworks display” and to execute Sheikh Salah. After his arrest, for 31 days, Perlman was tortured by the Shabak in order to force him to confess to the murders, but eventually, he was released for lack of evidence. The Shabak nevertheless stated confidently “Perlman is still the prime suspect”. Time has surely proven otherwise.
1. The immediate allegations that “Jewish Terrorists” were responsible for the Duma Firebombing is nothing less than a blood libel.. As with all blood libels, there was not a shred of evidence and any serious investigation could have easily proved that. Those who followed events in 1995 may remember the previous and false “Jewish Terrorists” code-named Eyal by the Shabak. It consisted of a television production featuring Shabak agents acting out the role of “settlers” and choreographed by the infamous Shabak agent provocateur Avishai Raviv.
The blood libel in 2015 that “Jewish Terrorists” were responsible, was followed by arrests without rhyme or reason euphemistically called “Administrative Detention”. It is a crime in most civilized countries to arrest someone without cause, only to force them to confess to an imagined crime. With no evidence available a confession works like magic to find an accused guilty. As Attorney Adi Keidar has famously stated:
“Our police doesn’t do its job. It doesn’t investigate, it doesn’t corroborate and compare [evidence]. It likes confessions, because it trusts that once one is obtained the courts will ask for nothing else.”
Since then former Shin Bet director Yitzhak Ilan bore out this statement when he stated:“Believe me, it is very tempting to accept a false confession. You crack the case and go home.”
Ilan continued. “It is very tempting to use the incredible power you possess in the interrogation room, for the detriment of the suspect.”
2. Next came disallowing any visit by a lawyer or family member for 21 days! Why? Another ‘legal’ crime unknown in civilized societies but possible when you are the teflon coated Jewish Division of the Shabak of Israel. Fortunately those first arrested knew that the purpose of the arrest and the disallowing of anyone who could advise the suspect was to force an admission and confession. They also knew that under no circumstances should the suspect say any word that might then be used against him, no matter how painful the methods are.
It may shock the reader to discover that psychological and even physical torture is permitted in the Jewish state under special circumstances; such as to protect many people from an expected massacre when an apprehended terrorist is suspected of cohorts who are about to act.. Known as the ‘Ticking Bomb’ permission, this particular bomb ticked six months after the Duma arson and was used as the pretext to torture the accused. After that failed to produce a confession and Amiram Ben-Uliel was arrested, it was again ticking for 21 days as Ben-Uliel maintained his silence. Has anyone ever experienced a bomb ticking for months, weeks, or even days? These were outrageous lies that were used for only one purpose, not to save people from a massacre, but to coerce self-incriminating confessions. This time the Shabak was not going to allow their last hope for an indictment, to walk away a free man.
To summarize, we have so far dealt with libel, lies, and human rights abuses.
When many became aware that the Shin Bet was using illegal means to coerce confessions, and embarrassing questions were asked, the Shabak felt duty-bound to prove that their methods were justified for security reasons. The result was their video production “The Wedding of Hate”. This video was so successful, it proved, in Caroline Glick’s words: “that the whole community supported and even celebrated the murder of the Dawabshe family”.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon testified that "The prime minister brought a video of the wedding to the cabinet. At this point, some cabinet members still did not believe that Jews could commit murder in the Duma case. They were not prepared to say 'Jewish terrorism'. After seeing the video, they realized that there was a broader problem here."
The former defense minister explained that the video was shown to make it clear to certain people who raised doubts whether Jews carried out the arson in Duma.
Two details that he was not required to explain were, why it took so much time to release the video and why the original footage of this incriminating evidence was conveniently lost. The Shabak has a problem with losing evidence which might be embarrassing. The lawyers for the defense of the wedding participants could not check the video which had clearly been tampered with. Anyone who believes that the video was a true depiction of what transpired at the wedding should ask themselves. 1. What was the objective of those who created the video? 2. Who made and distributed the video? 3. Why was its release delayed and 4. What was it supposed to accomplish?
Moving on to the ridiculous re-enactment of the crime. A re-enactment is supposed to show that the accused knew certain details that he could not have known unless he committed the crime. In order for it to achieve its purpose, details of the crime must not be shared with the accused. But in this case, the narrative was written by the Shabak, rehearsed with the accused, and both the mastermind and the torturer accompanied the accused to make sure he did not contradict the official confession. The rules clearly call for an independent person to accompany the accused during a re-enactment, a person who does not know the details of the crime, not those who fed him the confession and threatened him with further torture.
The court chose to ignore this flagrant abuse of the judicial system.
The court also ignored the alibi which proved Ben-Uliel was at home at the time of the arson, babysitting his infant daughter.
They also ignored the statement made by the grandfather of the arson victims who asked, “How can it be one man [driving] two cars? It's not logical.” Two cars were seen at the scene.
The court also ignored the expert opinion that Ben-Uliel did not paint the graffiti that was supposed to prove Jews were involved, and stated that it was painted by two persons.
Those who took the time to study the case also noted that the graffiti was probably copied from a Chabad T-shirt and that it was inappropriate. It proved instead that it was painted by an Arab or secular person who cannot differentiate between Chabad and any other Jewish sect.
Attorney Yoram Sheftel who was originally designated as the lead defense lawyer for Amiram Ben-Uliel resigned early on when he saw that the authorities wanted a guilty verdict no matter what. He compared his defense of John Demjanjuk who was accused of killing 900,000 Jews, with Amiram’s supposed crimes. Demjanjuk was allowed to speak to his lawyer in private while Ben-Uliel could not. Demjanjuk had his human rights protected while Ben Uliel was clearly being persecuted.
The hearing on the appeal of Amiram Ben-Uliel was set by the Supreme Court for March 7, but with an additional crime.
The court announced that Justice Neal Hendel, who is considered critical of accepting confessions collected by improper means, was removed from the panel and will be replaced.
Orian Ben-Uliel, Amiram's wife, said that "it is not for nothing that the prosecutor's office repeatedly asked to postpone the hearing on various pretexts. From the beginning, all efforts of the system were directed to convict Amiram at all costs, through the interrogation using severe torture and up to his conviction on the basis of the confession he was forced to give under those tortures."
She continued. "Now, the prosecutor waited for another judge to take Justice Hendel's place, because every lawyer knows his position on confessions collected in improper ways. This is another stage in the system's war against justice with the intention of making sure Amiram stays in jail. Torture is the wrong way to extract a confession, and we will continue to fight to prove his innocence." In Ben-Uliel’s own words,"under such torture, anyone would admit to anything."
Why did the authorities commit so many crimes? They could take no chances. Ben-Uliel had to be found guilty. The original libel broadcast all over the world, that “Jewish Terrorists” were responsible for the Duma arson, demanded it.
They could just as easily have found Ben-Uliel not guilty as there was no evidence to connect him to the crime. The authorities had to be satisfied with Amiram Ben-Uliel as the single scapegoat even though all witnesses consistently claimed there was more than one person involved in the Duma firebombing.
Will those who committed these crimes ever be found guilty and punished? Will the true murderers ever face justice? Will Amiram Ben-Uliel ever be exonerated?