What took Israel so long to arrest Douma murder suspects?
After four months of investigation, suspects in the murder of the Dawabsha family were apprehended — but will they be convicted?
The gag order relating to the arrest of radical right-wing activists suspected of belonging to a Jewish terrorist cell and committing terror attacks was partially lifted on Dec. 3. Among other things, the detainees are suspected of having perpetrated the attack in the village of Douma on July 31, setting the Dawabsha house on fire and killing three family members — mother, Reham; father, Saed; and Ali, their 18-month-old baby. Only Ahmed, 5, survived. Although his life is not in danger, he is still hospitalized at Tel Hashomer Hospital in central Israel with serious burns all over his body.
The Israeli defense establishment is convinced that the terror attack in Douma was one of the triggers that unleashed the intifada that has been raging in Israel since the beginning of October. But the brutal murder of the Dawabsha family was not the catalyst that precipitated the escalation, but rather the fact that the perpetrators of that attack had not been captured for weeks on end. This stands in stark contrast to the efficiency and effectiveness of Israel’s General Security Service, the Shin Bet, in apprehending Palestinian terrorists.
In recent months, charges were made in the Palestinian Authority (PA) that, due to political reasons, Israel was in no hurry to nab the perpetrators of the Douma attack. A statement by Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon Sept. 10 to the effect that the defense establishment was aware of the identity of the perpetrators of the attack but could not disclose that information in order not to reveal its sources further boosted the rumor mill concerning Israel’s ineptness in capturing the perpetrators.
Now — some four months later — it has been reported that the Shin Bet has arrested several people suspected of being implicated in that arson attack. The gag order was (partially) lifted due to petitions from Israeli news outlets as well as a myriad of rumors that flooded social media. Identifying the suspects by name remains prohibited, as is the disclosure of any information about the locality they live in. The laconic information that was released for publication suggests that the Shin Bet apparently still does not have sufficient evidence to bring those suspects to trial. Chai Haber, a lawyer representing one of the suspects, reportedly even thinks that the “clearer the picture becomes, the more it will be understood that the statements from the authorities on progress being made in any of those investigations have no leg to stand on.”
