Or Commission | Police Testimony

“To summarize what you saw regarding the injury and death of the boy: you actually don’t know what happened, you don’t know how he was shot, you don’t know anything?” —Justice Theodore Or

Six police officers who were at the scene gave contradictory testimonies about the circumstances of the shooting. All of them claimed not to know how Asel died, despite all of them having admitted to being within meters of him at the time he was shot.

Ovadia Chatan, Amir Chayot and Avi Karasso are three of the policemen who were in Arabeh. Itzhak Shimoni is the policeman who was reported by fellow officers to be the first one to get to Asel.

Justice Theodore Or: To summarize what you saw regarding the injury and death of the boy: you actually don’t know what happened, you don’t know how he was shot, you don’t know anything?

Chayot: Absolutely not. Afterwards I also saw the picture in the newspaper and I tried to remember its location in the riot that occurred there, and I just couldn’t place the … I don’t remember.

**

Justice Or: Is there anything else you can remember from the day of the event, about the Asleh case?

Shimoni: No, they referred to everything almost and I can even recall the shirt he wore because it was such an unusual event for me, I remember the look in his eyes, these are things that will follow me all the time.

**

Chatan: Beforehand there was a large group of people in the grove, which was trying to flank us and come up towards us. At a certain point a few police officers acted as lookouts to see if they were coming up towards us. What I saw was … as we were running towards them I saw a boy in the olive grove retreat, retreat southwards towards the crowd, and then slip, and then try to get up and run and fall. At this point, the three of us ran into the olive grove. I remember getting to the boy, and why did we run to him? Because a day earlier or a few days earlier we were in another incident, in Tur’an, were there was also a mass riot, and until a boy was caught, things didn’t end. In Tur’an one boy was caught and then everyone scattered to their houses. We thought that in this case also, if we catch this boy then maybe the whole thing will end. We ran towards the boy. What I saw at the place … I saw the boy lying, thrown on the ground with his face down. I didn’t recognize his face. A large boy, with a blood stain on his shoulder. Shimoni yelled: “The boy is hurt and we need to call an ambulance.”

**

Shimoni: I got to the guy, I saw he was lying down and I bent down towards him to see what happened to him, I saw a tiny dot of blood in the shoulder area, the upper back, I lifted him up so I could see the face, and I could tell he’s injured… I mean, I understood he’s injured by the look of his eyes, that he’s… you could tell they’re not… they’re… sort of unconscious. I got up immediately … I went to the force’s commander, told him we have an injured man, and that they should call an ambulance.”

**

Justice Or: The guy with the green shirt, that was lying there, did you see him that day before the incident?

Karasso: I saw him during the stone throwing that occurred. I recognized him by the green shirt he was wearing.

Justice Or: That’s his identifying mark?

Karasso: That’s his identifying mark, sir.

**

Justice Or: You saw him first when he was running?

Chatan: That is correct.

Justice Or: How far did he manage to run, did you notice?

Chatan: Something like 3-4 meters, 5 meters, then he slipped, and then he got up again to run and fell down.

Justice Or: Yes. Now, try and see if you remember at that time, during that timeframe, 5 minutes before you saw him, as you saw him, 5 minutes after you saw him—did you hear shooting?

Chatan: No, there was no shooting.

**

Justice Or: You remember that you gave a report …

Karasso: An operation report.

Justice Or: An operation report?

Karasso: Yes.

Justice Or: According to the request of … I read this report, and you don’t mention live fire at all, and you don’t mention usage of rubber coated bullets. Is there a reason that this is not … ?

Karasso: Sir, an operation report includes the things that I did at the incident. What I did—I reported.

Justice Or: That is what you’re asked to do? When you give a report and there is a man who is later known to be killed, you don’t need to report what you saw? Only what you did?

Karasso: An operation report is what I know, that’s what I was taught. It includes the actions that I, as a police officer, did, and that’s what I did, sir.

Justice Or: All right, so you didn’t see any live ammunition being fired?

Karasso: Excuse me, sir?

Justice Or: You didn’t see live ammunition being fired in the air?

Karasso: I did, sir.

Justice Or: You didn’t mention any live ammunition being fired, nor rubber coated bullets, from your report, one would think that everything was sterile there, a little gas but that’s it.

**

Justice Or: And you, actually, were a witness of [this tragic event]. Do you have an explanation for what happened? Do you have some explanation for what happened? How was the man hurt?

Chatan: I don’t really know. I, when I got to him, I say this in complete honesty, I was also in shock when I saw it, and this incident disturbed me a lot, that a man was hurt there, and it shouldn’t have happened.