A video tape of instructions given to police before the destruction of the Gilad Farm last October was doctored in an alleged attempt to hide two minutes of the tape which are believed to contain incriminating evidence against Police Commander Shachar Ayalon. MK Shaul Yahalom stated that he wonders whether Commander Ayalon made good on his recorded promise to his officers that he could make charges “disappear.”
MK Yahalom obtained a videotape showing Commander Ayalon briefing his officers before they went on to destroy the Gilad Farm and expel its inhabitants. The tape, which was shown on Channel 10, showed Ayalon saying: “We have received our orders, officers have received their orders…Tell them ‘Shachar Ayalon.’ If they have a problem they can come to me. Whoever wants to press charges let them file them under my name and I will dissolve the files. I’m not joking around with you, I am also talking about these (points to identification tags); they break after the first grab, and we all know that after that it takes two weeks to get a new one. Therefore nobody is to wear their name tag If somebody asks ‘who are you?’, ‘your name and badge number, please!’, Makes you crazy with all the procedural stuff and tries to get you to tell them your name and rank. Tell them Shachar Ayalon, District Commander – and if you have a problem or charges are filed, I will take care of it.”
MK Yahalom believes that a two minute segment was cut from the video clip after Ayalon said, “We received our orders, officers have received their orders…,” and preceding, “Tell them Shachar Ayalon, if they have a problem they can come to me…”
The two missing minutes that may contain the incriminating evidence against Commander Ayalon were proven to exist due to a wristwatch that can be seen in the video while Commander Ayalon is speaking. While Ayalon’s first sentence was said at 5:08 p.m. the second sentence begins at 5:10 p.m. The obvious question posed by many is how did two minutes of the videotape disappear?
MK Yahalom said that the missing 2-minute segment, based on the context, contains Police Commander Ayalon issuing explicitly illegal directives to his officers, instructing them to remove their identification tags. He therefore submitted a complaint against Ayalon stating that, “The fact that such an order was issued by Ayalon is beyond argument, it was documented in official letters by Israel’s Police, by the Attorney General and by the Knesset’s internal committee. This order was removed from the videotape and we can only conclude that it was given during those two minutes that were cut from the tape.” MK Yahalom added, “Cutting material from the videotape constitutes destruction of evidence and interference with the investigation into complaints against Ayalon concerning this very same issue.” MK Yahalom is requesting an investigation to reveal, “Who cut the tape, when they did it, for what purpose – with the intention to bring that person to stand trial for this very serious crime.”
It is noteworthy that the aforementioned videotape was handled by the police as evidence in a separate investigation of the events at Gilad Farm.
MK Yahalom obtained a videotape showing Commander Ayalon briefing his officers before they went on to destroy the Gilad Farm and expel its inhabitants. The tape, which was shown on Channel 10, showed Ayalon saying: “We have received our orders, officers have received their orders…Tell them ‘Shachar Ayalon.’ If they have a problem they can come to me. Whoever wants to press charges let them file them under my name and I will dissolve the files. I’m not joking around with you, I am also talking about these (points to identification tags); they break after the first grab, and we all know that after that it takes two weeks to get a new one. Therefore nobody is to wear their name tag If somebody asks ‘who are you?’, ‘your name and badge number, please!’, Makes you crazy with all the procedural stuff and tries to get you to tell them your name and rank. Tell them Shachar Ayalon, District Commander – and if you have a problem or charges are filed, I will take care of it.”
MK Yahalom believes that a two minute segment was cut from the video clip after Ayalon said, “We received our orders, officers have received their orders…,” and preceding, “Tell them Shachar Ayalon, if they have a problem they can come to me…”
The two missing minutes that may contain the incriminating evidence against Commander Ayalon were proven to exist due to a wristwatch that can be seen in the video while Commander Ayalon is speaking. While Ayalon’s first sentence was said at 5:08 p.m. the second sentence begins at 5:10 p.m. The obvious question posed by many is how did two minutes of the videotape disappear?
MK Yahalom said that the missing 2-minute segment, based on the context, contains Police Commander Ayalon issuing explicitly illegal directives to his officers, instructing them to remove their identification tags. He therefore submitted a complaint against Ayalon stating that, “The fact that such an order was issued by Ayalon is beyond argument, it was documented in official letters by Israel’s Police, by the Attorney General and by the Knesset’s internal committee. This order was removed from the videotape and we can only conclude that it was given during those two minutes that were cut from the tape.” MK Yahalom added, “Cutting material from the videotape constitutes destruction of evidence and interference with the investigation into complaints against Ayalon concerning this very same issue.” MK Yahalom is requesting an investigation to reveal, “Who cut the tape, when they did it, for what purpose – with the intention to bring that person to stand trial for this very serious crime.”
It is noteworthy that the aforementioned videotape was handled by the police as evidence in a separate investigation of the events at Gilad Farm.