Indictments were handed down in the Lod District Court on Sunday, 22 Teves against suspects in the Duma arson case including his client, a minor and an adult.

The main suspect in the arson case is Jerusalem resident 21-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was charged with the counts of murder. The name of minors may not be published. One minor was charged with accessory to murder. Two additional minors were charged with violence against Palestinians. The attack, according to the ISA, was to avenge the 2015 murder of Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld HY”D, who was killed in a terrorist shooting attack on the Alon Road in 2015.

Ben-Uliel was a member in an organization called Givonim, a subset of the Hilltop Youth, a group of Jewish extremists. According to a Shin-Bet statement, the Givonim seek to accomplish their goal of anointing a king over Israel by carrying out a violent coup against the government, and murdering or expelling all non-Jews from Israel.

The indictment said that Ben-Uliel was supposed to meet a minor who was to assit him in the arson attack, but had failed to show up. Ben-Uliel instead proceeded on his own and carried the attack out by himself.

The fire resulted in the loss of life of three of the family members; 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was burned alive in the fire, while both his parents died from their injuries within weeks.

Following the indictments, the attorney for one of the minors, Itamar Ben-Givir, told the press “My client is innocent”, categorically rejecting the indictment. “The indictment is not final but the opening of a Pandora’s box opened by the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet)”.

Ben-Givir compared the indictment to past cases in which the ISA came under fire including the 300 bus and accuses the ISA of crossing lines that may not be crossed in desperation to solve the case.

“I suggest the ISA does not run to celebrate. My client is innocent! My client has not confessed to police. He was broken by torture during the ISA interrogation. If the ISA claims there was no torture, it behooves the ISA to release the recordings of the ISA basements. The minor I am representing is not a murder suspect.

“My client is innocent and was abused and tortured using sodomy beds and he was beaten. The law stipulates such confessions are inadmissible…”

Note: The 300 bus affair occurred in 1984 when ISA agents shot restrained Arab terrorists immediately following the release of hostages on the bus in Ashdod. This was followed by ISA agents giving false testimony. The case led to a national outcry, the resignation of ISA Director Avraham Shalom and a government investigation committee.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Medabrim Tikshoret)