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World Jewish News
Knesset c'tee to focus on murders
16.08.2009
After Friday night's brutal homicide on a north Tel Aviv beach brought the number of murders nationwide to eight in the last two weeks, the Knesset House Committee said Sunday that it would convene on Wednesday to discuss the recent spate of violence.
Committee chairman David Azoulay (Shas) said he would invite Public Security Minister Yitzhak Ahronovitch, Israel Police Insp-Gen. David Cohen, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and an Education Ministry representative to the meeting.
Nine suspects in the Tel Aviv beach murder were remanded in custody in hearings overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning, while Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his profound shock over the incident.
Three of the suspects were remanded for ten days, three for four days, one for for five and another for two.
In addition, a 19-year-old female soldier from Kfar Saba, suspected of aiding and abetting the murder and obstructing the investigation, was remanded for two days after the court accepted a police appeal against her release to house arrest.
An appeal against freeing the tenth suspect, a 17-year-old girl from Petah Tikva, was rejected and she was released to house arrest.
The 59-year-old victim of the murder, Leonard "Arik" Karp, was sitting on a bench with his wife and daughter when he was allegedly beaten to death by a group of young men from Jaljulya, east of Hod Hasharon.
The father of the Kfar Saba girl maintained that his daughter was innocent.
"She is naïve and is easily dragged along," he told Army Radio. "In my opinion, she has a mental problem. She was also treated by a psychologist four or five years ago."
The father said he tried to stop his daughter meeting the Jaljulya group.
"I didn't know anything about them and I asked her not to meet them," he said. "I tried to run after her, but it didn't help. They met a distance from our house, she said that she was going out and then I saw them from afar when she got into a car."
He said he learned that his daughter was a suspect when he tried to call her cellular phone. "The investigator answered and said she was in custody and being interrogated," he said. "As soon as we heard, I turned on the computer, went on to the Internet and began to understand what had happened."
The father called the episode "terrifying," and, turning to the victim's family, said, "I'm very sorry that such a thing happened. My heart goes out to the family."
Netanyahu spoke about the incident in an interview with Army Radio on Sunday morning.
"This is shocking," he said. "A man leaves his home with his wife and daughter and his life is ended by some violent and dark thuggery. As soon as I heard about what happened, I telephoned Aharonovitch. He told me about the investigation, which has since made progress, and I think that the police acted quickly here. That's good, but we agreed between us, in light of this shocking event and others as well, to expedite the plan to bolster municipal policing and the local police, because the ability to perpetrate these crimes against Israeli citizens will drop dramatically if more police are deployed on the streets... and if we can learn from overseas how to reduce crime."
Netanyahu was referring to a proposal to decentralize police services by giving local authorities jurisdiction over neighborhood policing.
He said it was the government's obligation to provide security for Israeli citizens "not only against terrorists, but also against the domestic terrorism of crime."
Aharonovitch told Israel Radio later Sunday that the new plan would increase the number of police on the streets, but stressed that "we cannot put a cop on every corner."
He blamed the violence on neglect by previous governments, and said that he would work to increase the "dismal" police wages.
President Shimon Peres called on the cabinet to devote Sunday's meeting to the subject.
"The country sometimes has challenges, but I believe we'll cope," he told Army Radio. "There is truth to the police assertion that all authorities must come together, legal and others. We certainly cannot tolerate this situation."
Meanwhile, MK Nahman Shai (Kadima) on Sunday questioned the decision to place gag orders on the details of the recent murders and the theft at the Kirya military complex.
"The gag order policy must be examined immediately," he wrote to Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz. "It appears that the courts tend to accept police requests for gag orders too easily."
"There are investigations in which the publication of details would do no damage at all, particularly the theft of a gun and credit card details from a very senior IDF officer," he continued.
"The basic right of the public is to know, and the law enforcement establishment has a duty to protect this right."
In addition, Shai appealed to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to convene an emergency plenum session to debate the murders.
According to an initial police investigation, the Arab men, who were allegedly intoxicated, made a comment to Karp as they walked past his family.
Karp responded with a remark, and a verbal confrontation ensued. The altercation quickly turned violent, with the youths physically assaulting the family.
Karp's wife and 25-year-old daughter fled the scene, and were chased by members of the gang who continued to attack them. The wife, who sustained light wounds, and daughter managed to telephone the police.
When the women returned to the bench, they found that Karp had disappeared.
Officers under the direction of the city's police chief, Cmdr. Shahar Ayalon, launched a large-scale search for the missing man, and were assisted by a police helicopter.
Hours later, his body was recovered from the waterfront near the Israel Electric Corporation building.
Police believe he left the beach promenade, leaving a trail of blood behind him, in a bid to escape his attackers, and was either beaten to death or drowned by members of the gang who caught up with him.
Meanwhile, the suspects fled to a forest. Eventually, the 17-year-old from Petah Tivka contacted the police, leading to the arrests.
On Saturday afternoon, she accompanied officers to the scene of the killing and reenacted the crime.
Asst.-Cmdr. David Gaz, of the Yarkon police subdistrict, described the attack as "a severe incident of thuggery."
By YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Источник: JPost.com
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