IDF officer promoted despite role in Palestinian's death

IDF officer promoted despite role in Palestinian's death - Diplomacy and Defense

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Brig. Gen. Roni Numa was found by state and military prosecutors to have a

Chaim Levinson | Jun. 10, 2014 | 9:30 AM | 3
The appointment of Brig. Gen. Roni Numa as the head of the Israeli army's “Depth Corps” and the Military Colleges, as well as his promotion to major general, was approved last week. This occured despite the fact that the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Military Advocate General determined that, in 2001, Numa approved an operation in which a Palestinian was killed in violation of the Israel Defense Forces' rules of engagement.
The criminal case in the matter was closed, though the Military Advocate General Corps noted in its decision that “in advance, the firing, as was approved, should not have been approved.”
The event took place in October 2001, when after the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi by Palestinian terrorists in a Jerusalem hotel, IDF troops took up positions at the outskirts of Palestinian cities. Battalion 202 of the Paratroop Brigade, commanded at the time by Numa, was stationed on the outskirts of Tulkarem. One of the positions was commanded by a company commander name Ofir. Ofir claimed that every day for a week a Palestinian would come and park his car in a suspicious fashion near the position and speak on the telephone. In all these instances, after the telephone call, the position was fired upon.
Ofir concluded that the Palestinian was directing the fire at the soldiers and decided to “neutralize” him. He asked his battalion commander, Numa, for permission to act. There was a dispute later as to exactly what Ofir requested, and what Numa approved.
Ofir claimed the order was to neutralize the man, even if he was killed in the process. He said he had pressured Numa for almost a week and a half and they spoke about it a number of times. After not receiving approval a few times, Numa approved, said Ofir.
Numa, on the other hand, provided a number of different versions. At first he said he gave Ofir permission to intercept the vehicle. Later he said he could not rule out Ofir’s version in which there was approval to kill the Palestinian, but in a third questioning he returned to his first version, and said he only gave approval to shoot at the tires of the car, as required by the rules of engagement.
The day after receiving approval, at 7 A.M. the Palestinian arrived at the position once again with his son. His sister and her husband and two children were also in the car. An armored personnel carrier blocked their way at a corner, and the car turned around and drove off. At this point Ofir ordered two snipers to open fire on the car. The Palestinian was wounded by a bullet in the back, and died later in the hospital.
The Palestinian was Abdallah Jarousha, a businessman from the Tulkarem refugee camp, whose sister lived in the house next to the soldiers’ position. Jarousha would visit his sister every day, and on the day of the shooting he picked up his sister and they drove to see another relative. When the armored personnel carrier blocked their way, they turned around to go back home. The soldiers interpreted this as fleeing the scene, and shot Jarousha.
In March 2002, the family, with the aid of Hamoked: The Center for the Defense of the Individual, a human rights organization, decided to investigate the matter. After a year the Military Advocate General decided to open an investigation. Only in late 2004, three years after the event, were people summoned for questioning. The two soldiers who fired had already finished their military service, and Ofir left the army in 2006 with the rank of major.
In 2008, after three years of deliberations by the Military Advocate General and after a petition to the High Court of Justice, the Military Advocate General decided to close the case without putting anyone on trial.
HaMoked decided to appeal the military prosecutor’s decision to close the case. This appeal took three more years. The prosecution stated that the deceased had implicated himself by his actions and had become “a legitimate target.” Nonetheless, the prosecution said in response that the requirement for strictly following the rules of engagement was reiterated and emphasized. “At the same time, concerning the conclusion that must be made from the event, we were of the opinion that an after-the-fact investigation cannot draw conclusions about the behavior of the forces at the time of the event, and there is no place to take criminal action.”
In 2012 the family and HaMoked decided to appeal to the High Court of Justice to ask for the company commander and the sniper to be put on trial. In July 2013 the High Court ordered the military prosecution to explain why it decided not to pass the case on to the attorney general. Last month the case was finally closed when the deputy state prosecutor announced that the explanations of why no trial was held were acceptable.
Since then Numa has advanced in the IDF. He was appointed commander of the Nahal infantry brigade and later an aide to Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. He became the commander of Division 98 and the Tze’elim training base. Last Thursday IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz announced Numa’s latest promotion.
The IDF Spokesman said: “Brig. Gen. Roni Numa, who will soon be appointed commander of the Depth Corps and be promoted to the rank of general, is a valued officer with vast leadership and field experience who fought, led and commanded many missions over the years that led to his deserved advancement. The attempt to besmirch the officer over an event that took place in 2001 when he was a lieutenant colonel, distorts reality and is disconnected from the facts. The incident was examined by all the judicial bodies, including the High Court of Justice. None of these examinations led to any action or reproach against Brig. Gen. Numa personally, nor called for his advancement to be stalled. The incident, as well as the investigation into all of its military and legal aspects, is very familiar to the IDF, and inasmuch as there is nothing about it that discredits [Numa’s] conduct, no reason was found that would disqualify Brig. Gen. Numa from serving altogether deservedly as commander of the Depth Corps, as he is in no need of any character witnesses to testify that he is reaching the rank of IDF general on the strength of his many accomplishments and abilities.”