To mark the second anniversary of the death of 16-year-old Ahuvya Sandak in a police chase, his family, friends, and public figures visited his grave in the Kfar Etzion cemetery.
Among those present was the former deputy chief of the Department of Internal Police Investigations, MK Moshe Saada (Likud), who has been in contact with the family since his resignation. Saada addressed the memorial service, apologizing in the name of the prosecution for the way it conducted itself during the investigation of Sandak's death.
Saada stated "I didn't know Ahuvya, I only heard his name the day of the incident, regarding the distortion that I, as someone who was part of the system, saw in this story. I asked myself why there are distortions of justice such as this in the state of Israel, the Zionist state. Naively, I really thought that I would shout this at the system, and then everyone would call it out. Our whole time in the prosecution, the only thing that guided us was the biblical saying 'Justice Justice you shall pursue' but I discovered that in this incident they shut their ears."
Later on, Saada said "I am part of the [law enforcement] system, I love the system, and this whole story of Ahuvya and the signs that read 'Justice for Ahuvya' I think show that justice was not done. When I left the system, the first thing I did was to meet the parents and apologize in the name of the system. The system didn't send me to apologize, but that's my obligation as a human being 'since your brother's blood is calling out to us from the ground'. As far as I'm concerned, he's everyone's son, and instead of justice, there is injustice. It's my goal, and you too need to help, everyone with their effort."
"I heard Avraham (Ahuvya's father) say several times that in the end, you look for meaning, you want to know what happened. Maybe from this place, from the death and the pain, we need to create a justice system [wished for in the prayer] 'return our judges of old.' One of justice that's connected to inheriting the land of Israel. 'Justice Justice you shall pursue, that you may live and inherit the land.' I hope that we will fix what caused this incident and G-d willing from that point manage to change Israel's justice system," added Saada.
Saada concluded that the new government's role is to create justice, and among other things, to shed light on what happened during this incident. "This is an important point in time and no one ever thought that it would come together like it did, that tomorrow a new government will be sworn in, and I hope that we will be able to create justice."
A day earlier, Ahuvya's family held a memorial service for him attended by over 500 participants, during which Avraham Sandak spoke and completed a Talmud Tractate in the memory of his son. Among the speakers was new MK Limor Son-Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) who stressed the need for an investigation into the part played by the police in the tragedy. "The police officers involved are still in their positions, and that reality is impossible to grasp," she said.