IDF captain jailed for death by negligence of Palestinian teen

[Scurrilous]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/423115.html

<snip>

"A military court on Monday sentenced an Israel Defense Forces captain found guilty last month of causing the death by negligence of Mohammed Ali Zeid, 16, in October 2002.


Captain Zvi Koratski was sentenced to six months in prison and a further six months on probation. He was also demoted to the rank of first lieutenant.

The conviction is one of the first of the current intifada pertaining to a case in which a Palestinian was killed.

Koratski served as deputy commander of an artillery battalion that on October 5, 2002 dispersed demonstrating Palestinians in the village of Nazlat Zeid, southwest of Jenin. He shot and killed the Palestinian youth, who was on the porch of his house. The Palestinian was apparently hit after soldiers fired in the air to impose a curfew."

[The Magistrate]

1. Six Months In Cells Is Not Nearly Enough, Sir

This took place in broad day-light and at close range. While soldiers may have "fired into the air" to hurry obedience, this man fired on the level, at a target, and ought to have many years confinement to reflect on that, and to warn others against the same act....

[Violet_Crumble]

4. And he was only demoted...

It's all reeking of a bit of a slap on the wrist for what appears to be a lot more than mere negligence. To fire at another person and kill them puts it on a whole different level. He should have been kicked out of the military, not just demoted. After all, why would they want someone like that amongst their forces? And the deterrence effect on others should have been something to be considered when convicting him. In the recent case of those US military personnel who abused Iraqi prisoners, I'm hoping that a hefty prison term will remind others who might be 'confused' about what they are and aren't allowed to do that there will be a harsh punishment for such acts...

Violet...

[tinnypriv]

6. The case in Aug 2001 was worse

There the IDF officer was only given a suspended sentence and had "his promotion stalled", after murdering a Palestinian by firing "Warning shots" from "500 metres (!!)".

At least there seems to be progress - the IDF isn't giving out medals for razing Jenin and "killing" to "leave corpses" in Nablus etc. They did that back in 02/03.

[tinnypriv]

2. Not actually true

This is the first conviction resulting in prison time in which a Palestinian was killed. Ha'aretz could at least fact check once in a while.

There was another conviction when a Palestinian was killed in August 2001 (more accurately: murdered). That was a suspended sentence. There was another conviction for causing serious head injuries, but not death.

Those are the only two convictions ("Just two convictions", to quote the Hebrew media)¹ that have happened in this Intifada. This presumably makes it three. Wooh-pee - somebody throw a party for the glorious Zahal.

-----

1. See 'The Intifada's: Operational Military Case Studies - Poorly Investigated, Forgotten and Buried', Yediot Aharonot, 23 Jan 2004 (Hebrew - English available). An excerpt:

"In the period between the beginning of the Intifada and December 2003, a period of more than three years, 2,253 Palestinians were killed and thousands were injured, according to IDF data. In that period of time, just 72 Investigative Military Police investigation were launched in reference to the killing or severe injury of civilians. Thirteen of those investigations ended with an indictment, out of which, to date, two have ended with convictions."

[elsaamo]

3. Who would throw a party

when an innocent person was killed? I understand your point, but I just want to clarify that nobody is pleased about the situation.

I would certainly not argue that every thing that Tzahal does is perfect, but it is a testament to some justice that they arrested a soldier who conributed to a wrongful death. We can criticize their other actions, but I believe that here they acted fairly and dealt with a man who made a tragic mistake.

[tinnypriv]

5. "a tragic mistake"

Based on what evidence?

In any event, six months jail time is not "fair", "mistake" or not.

5 years is the standard sentence for manslaughter, and life imprisonment is the standard sentence for murder. It's one of these - since "firing into the air" is ridiculed in the Israeli media as a sick joke, the only reasonable conclusion from the publically available evidence is either extreme incompetence with wilful disregard for life (i.e. manslaughter) or murder.

As I quoted - "Just Two Convictions". Now it's three. You think that is reasonable? From over a million bullets fired, thousands killed, and tens of thousands injured?

As for why they "dealt" with this killer, if you were connected to any of the Israeli/international activist movements you'd know the answer: public pressure. Again, that's admitted in the Israeli media by senior military correspondents. What you're seeing is the fluff on the surface - the IDF deserves no credit whatsoever for this.

[Vladimir]

7. Six months?!

I'm all for short jail terms and a focus on rehabilitation, but 6 months for murder?? And still a liutenant? Good to see justice at work...

[JohnLocke]

8. It wasn't murder, it was death by negligence.

If possession is 9/10th of the law, intent is the other tenth.

[Vladimir]

9. It was hardly negligence

whatever the court may have called it (and my problem is with the nature of the conviction so lets not get into semantics), when you fire into the air to dispers a crowd you are never going to fire low enough to hit someone sitting on a porch. Unless you intend to kill that is.