Following the public storm over the killing of a terrorist who was lying on the ground in Hebron on Purim day, the military prosecutor on Sunday announced closing the case against Col. Yisrael Shomer, Binyamin Brigade Commander, who was documented by B’Tselem — just like the 19-year-old medic was in Hebron — shooting to death an Arab youth after the latter had broken his car windshield with a huge rock. That shooting took place some nine months ago, in the village of A-Ram in Judea and Samaria.
The Brigade Commander has gone through nine months of hell for essentially doing his duty and taking down a terrorist who could have caused his death and the death of everyone else in his car. He was interrogated with a warning and could, much like the Hebron medic, face manslaughter and even murder charges.
The reasoning behind the decision not to prosecute went as follows: the colonel shot at the Arab terrorist as part of an arrest protocol. He was aiming for the suspect’s legs, but, apparently, his aim wasn’t so good and the bullet got the terrorist in the head. The lethal shot was not intentional, and therefore there will be no charges.
The IDF Spokesperson’s statement on Sunday, framing the shot which was taken while in motion as a tactic error. And since it was committed under operational circumstances it did not “cross the criminal boundary” and did not justify court proceedings.
It is doubtful whether the Binyamin Brigade Commander would have gotten away so easy if not for the sea change that Israeli society has undergone in the past two weeks, with an open, aggressive rebellion against the collaboration between leftwing NGOs and the military prosecution to end IDF soldiers’ careers and to punish soldiers for doing their military duty.
Indeed, the fact that the IDF statement has gone out of its way to insist that the colonel’s shooting was an operational error was a clear reference to the Hebron medic’s case, where the prosecution will argue that the shooting took place some 10 minutes after the operation had been concluded.