Israel Matzav

NY Times: They were murdered shortly after they were kidnapped

The New York Times reports that Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach HY"D (May God Avenge their blood) were murdered shortly after they were kidnapped.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the official announcement, said the Army had found the three bodies buried “in a field near Hebron” and were waiting to inform the families before releasing information.

“They know it’s the three, they will know for sure after they do the autopsy."The official said the three appeared to have been shot to death, likely “very close to the kidnap” time, and that the prime suspects had still not been caught.

On Monday, the Israel Police finally got around to disciplining the people who did not take Frenkel's emergency call seriously.

Four police officers have been removed from their posts as part of the findings of an internal police probe into the handling of a distress call placed by one of the three kidnapped teens on the night of June 12th.
The officers do not include the “Shaham” cop performing his national service in the police, who answered the call and passed it on to his supervisors. He was found by the probe to have conducted himself as expected. 

Those removed from their posts include the head of the operations branch of the Judea and Samaria district, the deputy head of district operations, the head of the police control center where the call was handled, and the shift leader responsible for supervising the dispatch center that night.

During the 2:09 call, which was received at 10:25 pm on June 12th, a single voice can be heard whispering “they kidnapped me” after which he goes silent. The call was not given the proper urgency or handed over to security services until nearly five hours later, when one of the boy’s parents reported him missing to police.

The handling of the call represented a severe failure “that ran along along the entire chain of command at the center, crossing a series of police, officers, and commanders," police said Monday.

National Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino said Monday that the incident represented “a failure of the utmost severity" and vowed to improve service at police dispatch centers, which he calls "the address the public turns to when  they face trouble".

He has also appointed Deputy National Commissioner Nissim Mor to head a team to examine the performance of dispatch centers nationwide.

Police have not handed over the tape to the press, saying that the Shin Bet does not want it published. They have however played it for the families of the kidnapped teens, a number of whom were reportedly seen leaving the meeting highly distraught afterwards.

Over two minutes on the phone and they weren't taken seriously. Those police officers' careers ought to end in ignominy.

Labels: Hebron, Israel police, kidnapping, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:35 PM