It is entirely possible that an objective review of the case would free Amiram Ben Uliel from a life in prison. That makes such a review imperative and now is the time. Opinion.
Israel’s president at the time the Duma case was tried, Reuven Rivlin, spread the libel around the world when he accused “Jewish Terrorists” of the firebombing in the village of Duma before any evidence proved it. In fact, there was no evidence to connect Jews to the crime. Yet this libel was repeated numerous times by the elites in the Jewish state and the media. The arson attack, probably perpetrated by those who are still walking free, was one of many similar attacks both before and after July 31, 2015. But this particular arson was chosen as a calculated justification to round up innocent Jewish citizens and torture them with the hope that they would confess to the crime. They were not allowed to speak to lawyers or family for various lengths of time. ‘
After four months of trying, relevant authorities admitted that the exercise had failed to garner any confessions. The victims had been severely traumatised as were their loved ones. But instead of announcing they were closing the case, as was done when no evidence was available in the case of Mahmoud Katusa in June 2019, the authorities charged ahead. A different solution was found and it led eventually to unlimited torture and solitary confinement for what now seems to be a lifetime.
The leadership had accused “Jewish Terrorists” and as expected, the international community followed through and wanted to see “justice” done. Reasons such as the lack of evidence, were no longer acceptable. Confirmation that this was the result of a family feud between Dawabshe cousins was strongly rejected. Why?
Instead, the authorities arrested Amiram Ben-Uliel who presented the ideal image with his beard, peyot, tzizit and large yarmulka. He would represent the imaginary “Jewish Terrorists” whom the authorities had just released following their failure to coerce confessions or to discover an organization behind the arson. Ben-Uliel’s role would be to create a symmetry between Jewish settlers and Arab terrorists.
At this stage, and after four months of delay, permission was received to use special unlimited torture, strictly reserved by law for “ticking time bombs”. Probably the longest ticking bomb ever recorded or experienced. Nevertheless, permission was granted by then Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.Israel’s president at the time the Duma case was tried, Reuven Rivlin, spread the libel around the world when he accused “Jewish Terrorists” of the firebombing in the village of Duma before any evidence proved it. In fact, there was no evidence to connect Jews to the crime. Yet this libel was repeated numerous times by the elites in the Jewish state and the media. The arson attack, probably perpetrated by those who are still walking free, was one of many similar attacks both before and after July 31, 2015. But this particular arson was chosen as a calculated justification to round up innocent Jewish citizens and torture them with the hope that they would confess to the crime. They were not allowed to speak to lawyers or family for various lengths of time. ‘
After four months of trying, relevant authorities admitted that the exercise had failed to garner any confessions. The victims had been severely traumatised as were their loved ones. But instead of announcing they were closing the case, as was done when no evidence was available in the case of Mahmoud Katusa in June 2019, the authorities charged ahead. A different solution was found and it led eventually to unlimited torture and solitary confinement for what now seems to be a lifetime.
The leadership had accused “Jewish Terrorists” and as expected, the international community followed through and wanted to see “justice” done. Reasons such as the lack of evidence, were no longer acceptable. Confirmation that this was the result of a family feud between Dawabshe cousins was strongly rejected. Why?
Instead, the authorities arrested Amiram Ben-Uliel who presented the ideal image with his beard, peyot, tzizit and large yarmulka. He would represent the imaginary “Jewish Terrorists” whom the authorities had just released following their failure to coerce confessions or to discover an organization behind the arson. Ben-Uliel’s role would be to create a symmetry between Jewish settlers and Arab terrorists.
At this stage, and after four months of delay, permission was received to use special unlimited torture, strictly reserved by law for “ticking time bombs”. Probably the longest ticking bomb ever recorded or experienced. Nevertheless, permission was granted by then Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
The above relates only some of the dozen crimes committed by the authorities to convict Amiram Ben-Uliel. Read: The Many Crimes in the Duma Affair.
Martin Sherman founder of The Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, has written approximately a dozen articles proving that Ben Uliel could not have committed this crime. Following the conviction he wrote the following:
“Imagine a country in which a Jewish citizen was convicted of brutal murder, despite the fact that his confession was extracted from him by “enhanced interrogation” (aka, infliction of physical pain); that his confession contradicted all eyewitness evidence at the scene; that he was denied access to legal counsel for an extended period during his interrogation; that, before and after his alleged crime, numerous similar attacks have been repeatedly perpetrated; and that all reasonable doubt and alternative accounts of the event were totally disregarded in assigning his guilt .”
“Clearly, such a case of blatant anti-Jewish bias would be expected to elicit dismayed outrage and virulent protest from Israel as the Jewish nation-state, whose very raison d’etre is, largely, to shield Jews from precisely such Judeophobic prejudice and prevent such flagrant cases of anti-Jewish abuse from taking place.”
“Yet the bitter irony is that it is not really necessary to imagine such blatant Judeophobic disregard of due process. On May 18th, (2020) it actually took place! In Israel!”
On September 2022, the Supreme Court President Esther Hayut rejected an appeal submitted by Ben-Uliel, leaving intact his three life sentences plus an additional 20 years. Hayut wrote that:
“The incident is a shocking one and the means used against the petitioner during his interrogation were certainly extremely irregular. Nonetheless, the ruling that is the subject of the request for a further hearing did not establish any new law on issues concerning the admissibility of confessions.”
The Honenu legal aid organization stated in response:
“Esther Hayut, like all her friends who proclaim themselves protectors of human rights, has made a mockery of the human rights of all the downtrodden of society with her support of torture when it is used to force those being interrogated to confess to crimes – just like in a third world country.”
“Precisely now, when everyone is talking about the Court as the ‘protector of human rights,’ Hayut has reminded us of the lies and deceit behind these fine words. When it comes to a Jew with a beard and peyot [sidelocks], the Court despises his human rights and tramples upon them.”
Professor Boaz Sangero has for decades been attempting to bring about an important reform of the law, namely that confessions may not be accepted by a court unless there is corroborative evidence. This would prevent the use of torture which is presently being used to replace the more difficult work, the search and discovery of evidence.
The Innocence Project [TIP] in the United States has proven that hundreds of innocent men have been incarcerated for decades based on nothing other than a false confession coerced by the use of psychological and physical torture. The Israel branch of TIP, however, has been silent about the Duma Firebombing.
What follows is a selection of statements concerning the injustice by those who have been involved or chosen to be concerned in some way.
Attorney Yoram Sheftel originally intended to represent Ben-Uliel, but resigned in disgust when he realized what he was facing, that Amiram would not be allowed a just outcome. He stated:
“… the only criminals in this case in terms of intentionally causing injury are the interrogators and those who sent them, … they are the apparent criminals,”
Former Shin Bet Director Yitzhak Ilan made this general observation:
“Believe me, it is very tempting to accept a false confession. You crack the case and go home … It is very tempting to use the incredible power you possess in the interrogation room, for the detriment of the suspect.”
Attorney Adi Keidar observed a pattern of behavior which he described thus:
“Our police doesn’t do its job. It doesn’t investigate, it doesn’t corroborate and compare [evidence]. It likes confessions because it trusts that once one is obtained the courts will ask for nothing else.”
Professor Ari Zivotofsky wrote a critical article published in the Jerusalem Post, on September 5, 2022, in which he observed:
“So, while most of the citizens of the State of Israel slept peacefully on the night of December 17, 2015, our emissaries were extracting a confession via torture between 11:40 p.m. and 7 a.m.”
Professor Yisrael Aumann, in an open letter to Esther Hayut:
“If the decision is not overturned, Israel will be the only state in the [democratic] world that officially authorizes torture for extracting confessions. Honorable President, [Chief Justice Esther Hayut] you have the power to prevent our deterioration into a police state. It must be clarified to the GSS, the police, and the office of the State Attorney that they must investigate and gather evidence – and not torture detainees in order to extract confessions.”
Jonathan Pollard stated:
“I am not looking to just get Amiram out of solitary confinement … I am looking to have him released and declared innocent of a crime he never committed.”
Attorney Aaron Feldman, the most recent lawyer in the case:
“For the first time, I saw an organized listing of torture methods – how long each method was employed on the body of the interrogatee, how many times each procedure was repeated, and the various auxiliary aids that were designed to produce visceral pain. When I studied the document, which I was forbidden to copy or keep in my office, my hair stood on end.”
MK Limor Son Har-Melech courageously stated:
“I do not support a murderer, I know he is innocent. If I stand by and watch how he is being abused – I will be an accomplice to the crime. There has never been a prisoner who spent eight years in solitary confinement, cut off from people and the world. There is something hidden there, a big lie, an injustice.”
Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman:
“I don’t know whether Amiram Ben-Uliel perpetrated the Duma murder or not, … I know that a system of justice, which approves confessions given after torture, is not fit to be called a just system.”
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu claimed;
“only someone who lacks knowledge in the nuances of the religious community would make such a mistake and assume that activists would daub … a known maxim of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.”
Amiram Ben-Uliel said that when the torture got to be too much, he resolved to confess so it would stop.
“I’ll make something up for them so they’ll release me, and I said to them, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk.” Ben-Uliel said he used details he gleaned from his interrogators.
is it time to re-open the Duma Case as israel did for Roman Zdorov, who after 13 years of imprisonment, was found not guilty?
