- News>
- World
Israeli troops refused order to kill Palestinians: Paper
Israeli soldiers refused to assassinate two Palestinian activists that the intelligence service wanted eliminated last month, an Israeli weekly reported.
Israeli soldiers refused to assassinate two Palestinian activists that the intelligence service wanted eliminated last month, an Israeli weekly reported.
The ‘Kol Hair’ paper said however one of the men was shot dead and the other wounded as they tried to flee an ambush.
An army internal document published in the weekly said that an officer refused to liquidate the two activists of the radical movement Islamic Jihad in an overnight operation on Dec 14-15.
It was the first time an Israeli newspaper has reported that Shin Beth, Israel's internal security and counterintelligence service, orders assassinations. The army has declined to comment on the report.
The Palestinians were preparing to collect explosives to carry out attacks inside Israel, according to the paper. Said Ibrahim al-Kharouf and Khalil Arida were intercepted by an Israeli army undercover unit as they drove by a village near the West Bank town of Nablus. A Shin Beth agent codenamed Yaniv had instructed the special unit to assassinate the two Palestinians, it reported. But the officer in charge ruled that the Shin Beth order was illegal and insisted on trying to capture the men but they tried to flee when they realised their car was being ambushed. Kharouf, considered by Israel to be a key military figure in the Islamic jihad, was killed while Arida survived but with serious injuries.
The officer was right to turn down the demand from the Shin Beth agent who went beyond his prerogatives and to insist that the two men be arrested, his superior, Colonel Yossi Adiri, wrote in the internal document.
Bureau Report
It was the first time an Israeli newspaper has reported that Shin Beth, Israel's internal security and counterintelligence service, orders assassinations. The army has declined to comment on the report.
The Palestinians were preparing to collect explosives to carry out attacks inside Israel, according to the paper. Said Ibrahim al-Kharouf and Khalil Arida were intercepted by an Israeli army undercover unit as they drove by a village near the West Bank town of Nablus. A Shin Beth agent codenamed Yaniv had instructed the special unit to assassinate the two Palestinians, it reported. But the officer in charge ruled that the Shin Beth order was illegal and insisted on trying to capture the men but they tried to flee when they realised their car was being ambushed. Kharouf, considered by Israel to be a key military figure in the Islamic jihad, was killed while Arida survived but with serious injuries.
The officer was right to turn down the demand from the Shin Beth agent who went beyond his prerogatives and to insist that the two men be arrested, his superior, Colonel Yossi Adiri, wrote in the internal document.
Bureau Report