On March 13, a young Arab man from Khirbet Shu Shakhla near Neve Daniel in western Gush Etzion told police his house had been torched by Jews. He told police he recognized the arsonists to be settlers by their fringes, before they ran away. He also said the day before his father had discovered a graffiti saying “Death to Arabs” about 150 yards from their home, and that five settlers had cursed out the complainer and thrown rocks at him, .
An investigation was launched by the nationalistic crime unit of the Judea and Samaria police, who expected this to be yet another Price Tag episode. But soon enough the investigators concluded the crime may not have been of a nationalistic nature, and interrogated the complaining Arab again. They discovered discrepancies between the complainer’s version of events and other testimonies they had collected. A polygraph test suggested the complainer was lying. The forensic lab determined that no incinerators had been used to start the fire.
Eventually, the complainer became the subject of the investigation and has been arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police investigation, providing false testimony regarding a crime, and violations of the public order. The military prosecution for Judea and Samaria is preparing his indictments.
Police emphasized that their discovery of a false accusation of arson by Jewish settlers does not suggest that the Duma village arson of July 31, 2015 was also such a falsely reported event. In fact, this month’s discovery only shows how diligent and free from prejudice police are in approaching every single crime.