An appeal was submitted to the Jerusalem District Court last night (Monday) in the case of the Jewish detainees, Elisha Yarad and Yehiel Indor, who were arrested after the incident in Kfar Burqa.
The appeal was filed by Adv. Avihai Hajabi and Adv. Nati Rom representing the two on behalf of the Honenu organization. In the appeal, the lawyers ask the court to shorten the extension of the detention of the two, after it was clarified that Yarad is not at all a suspect in the shooting, while Indor emphasized in his investigation the need to shoot because his life was in danger. Also this morning, Indore is hospitalized at Shaare Zedek Hospital and is recovering from a head surgery he underwent after he was seriously injured in an incident.
Regarding Yarad, it was written in the appeal that even according to the police, he did not use a weapon, let alone shoot. Regarding Indor it was stated that he gave a clear version while clarifying that he acted when his life was in immediate danger.
It was also noted that the statements gain validity from the fact that the police did not deny the claims that the Jews were brutally attacked. It is further argued that there is not even a minimal evidentiary basis for the commission of the crime of premeditated murder or indifference.
In the appeal, the lawyers also deny the claim of tampering with evidence by the detainees. According to what is described in the appeal, when the police arrived, it was Yarad who directed them to the location of the gun in Indor's house. "Such conduct testifies to about a thousand witnesses that Yarad had no fear that he had committed any offense and that it is possible to learn about his cooperation with the police." Also regarding the fact that the gun was taken from the scene, it was claimed that it was for fear that it would fall into the hands of the rioters would use it against the Jews.
Another claim that comes up is that the peace court did not give sufficient weight to "the brutal and cruel part of the Palestinians in the incident". According to them, the police representative confirmed that none of the Palestinian Arabs who were present at the event were questioned, although it is not disputed that they brutally attacked the settlers there. The appellants argued that this was an incident lasting almost two hours in which many settlers were attacked, and that even if a person took his own life, the incident must be examined in a broad perspective.
In conclusion, it is argued that the court did not examine the alternatives that were proposed during the hearing and did not even find a narrower point of criticism - precisely because of the evidentiary complexity of the case.
In light of all this, the lawyers ask the court to accept the appeal to order the annulment of the decision of the Magistrate's Court as well as to order the release of the two detainees.
Last night it was announced that sources privy to the details of the investigation of the incident say that it will be very difficult to convict the shooter of manslaughter and certainly of murder, given the fact that he was injured so badly, which seems like legitimate self-defense.
It was also reported that the chances of an indictment for the crime of manslaughter being filed in the incident are low, and apparently the settlers are expected to be released from custody in the coming days due to the fact that the body of the Palestinian rioter who was shot in the incident was buried without an autopsy being performed.