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Last update - 09:57 09/12/2007
London's burning for Dichter
By Gideon Levy
Tags: war crimes, U.K., Shin Bet 

Avi Dichter will not be going to London. The Israeli dream of taking in year-end sales, the new production of Othello or the sights of Oxford Street vanished before the public security minister's very eyes. The Foreign Ministry advised Dichter not to participate in a conference there, because he could be arrested for involvement in the assassination of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh, when he was Shin Bet security service head. The one-ton bomb used to target Shehadeh in 2002 left 15 people dead.

The day after the horrible assassination, in late July 2002, I visited the homes that were destroyed in the Al-Darj neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces tried at the time to claim they were "huts," to explain why it was unaware that people lived there. But they were apartment buildings housing dozens of families. The person who dropped a one-ton bomb on them in the dark of night knew it would kill many innocent people.

Among the ruins, I met Mohammed Matar, a Palestinian laborer who had worked in Israel for 30 years, lying in the rubble of his home, his arm and eye bandaged. In the "targeted killing" planned by Dichter's Shin Bet, Matar lost his daughter, his daughter-in-law and four toddler grandchildren. The pictures of the horror from the Gazan neighborhood have haunted me ever since. Someone, I thought, must pay for this. Could it be that no one is to blame or responsible for such an act?
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Shehadeh's assassination became a seminal event for Israel's critics the world over. It was not different from many other liquidation operations the Shin Bet had planned for the IDF. In July 2006, for example, Israel assassinated nearly all of the Abu Salmiyeh family - Dr. Nabil Abu Salmiyeh, a lecturer in mathematics, his wife and seven of their children - because wanted man Mohammed Def was visiting their home at the time. In the past seven years, 368 Palestinians were killed in liquidation operations of which Dichter was the founding father.

However, the dimensions of the bomb dropped on Shehadeh and the scope of killing it sowed turned it into an icon of the struggle against Israel's brutal methods of warfare. A damages lawsuit was submitted in a New York district court against Dichter on behalf of the families of those who were killed. Major General (Res.) Doron Almog was forced to remain on a plane when he arrived in Britain in September 2005 and Brigadier General Aviv Kokhavi, a former commander of the Gaza Division, canceled his plan to study in England.

These people and others were marked as war crimes suspects. Unfortunately, this occurred only overseas. Here, they remain ministers and aristocrats, their career and public status untainted, their foreheads unbranded by the mark of Cain. For years, the High Court of Justice deferred discussing petitions against the liquidations, until it finally gave its stamp of approval in December 2006. Another year passed before the state prosecution informed the High Court that it did not oppose forming an investigative committee to study the Shehadeh assassination, five years after the fact - a scandalous delay. In this state of affairs, those who were horrified by these operations could only hope legal authorities abroad would take action to fix what our authorities have chosen to ignore.

Yes, some in Israel believe that dropping a one-ton bomb on a residential neighborhood merits a criminal investigation. They are Israeli patriots no less than those who believe everything is permissible for us in the war against terror. They are not the ones who besmirch Israel's name - Israel's actions are responsible for this; these people seek to put an end to Israel's actions. They would prefer judicial proceedings be held in Israel, but our legal system is blocked before them. Therefore, their eyes are directed abroad.

The Foreign Ministry already has begun to act against the complaints overseas in various channels. It is a shame that this is Israel's only response. It would have been better to clarify here, among ourselves, the responsibility of these people for such grave actions as the bombing of Shehadeh's neighborhood. Meanwhile those who believe that the liquidations have brought us to the verge of a moral abyss must look toward London. Thanks to legal authorities there, people like Dichter are finally feeling "a slight bump on the wing."
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  1.   Why do you have "war criminals" at all....???? 10:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/12/07
  2.   AMEN! 10:57  |  eric 09/12/07
  3.   Yes. 11:05  |  cfs 09/12/07
  4.   all zionist leaders to jail, now! 11:06  |  Leon Rosgarten 09/12/07
  5.   #2 yes eric when you bring those in the usa to justice 11:13  |  victor hardman 09/12/07
  6.   Planet Gideon 11:34  |  Alan 09/12/07
  7.   The Self Hater Lewy 11:43  |  Gabe 09/12/07
  8.   Gideon Levy, This is coming anyhow... 11:45  |  Dutch 09/12/07
  9.   The whole of Israel burning for that coward Levy 11:53  |  Monica Lewis 09/12/07
  10.   Mr. Levy 11:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/12/07
  11.   How can a "journalist" claim that a person is a 12:06  |  Robert 09/12/07
  12.   # 9 chill your hate, monica 12:10  |  eric 09/12/07
  13.   Just fence in all Israelis. 12:16  |  Andreas 09/12/07
  14.   # 10 "people like dichter", cipora? 12:21  |  eric 09/12/07
  15.   Battlestar Gallactica 12:29  |  NR 09/12/07
  16.   # 9 Monica, It isn`t just as you think... 12:40  |  Dutch 09/12/07
  17.   This is only the start ... 12:43  |  spyguy 09/12/07
  18.   #12 Eric, you are right ... 12:51  |  Dutch 09/12/07
  19.   I will not forget... 12:57  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 09/12/07
  20.   no perks for Dichter 13:02  |  Michael 09/12/07
  21.   A murderer is only a murderer if he is not Israeli/Jew 13:14  |  Marco 09/12/07
  22.   War Criminals 13:20  |  howiej 09/12/07
  23.   # 11 a question for robert in MALTA 13:30  |  eric 09/12/07
  24.   Israel joining Serbia, Croatia, and South Africa 13:50  |  Ivar 09/12/07
  25.   Halutz will be prosecuted eventually. Has to be. 13:51  |  Michael 09/12/07
  26.   # 5 name them victor; or husha-baby and go to bed! 14:17  |  eric 09/12/07
  27.   Only The Children Ms Kohn? 14:36  |  Sally Cooperman 09/12/07
  28.   #10 Cipora, who only thinks of Israelis 14:53  |  Johnboy 09/12/07
  29.   This is war... 14:55  |  Eyal 09/12/07
  30.   No context 14:56  |  lar 09/12/07
  31.   ENEMY 14:59  |  daat y 09/12/07
  32.   #17 the remarkable anti semitic spyguy and his 15:06  |  victor hardman 09/12/07
  33.   Will Gideon Levy next say Jews were responsible for the Holocaust 15:11  |  Nannette 09/12/07
  34.   UK becoming Islamist-Jihadists? 15:14  |  Brod 09/12/07
  35.   Mr. Levy has collaborated over the years with people who 15:28  |  Dan 09/12/07
  36.   Bring Gideon Levy`s Dad to justice,even posthumusly! 15:30  |  Absolute Sweden 09/12/07
  37.   Marco#21 15:34  |  Mickey 09/12/07
  38.   To all the Anti-Israelis here .... 16:08  |  Séamus 09/12/07
  39.   #37 Mickey 16:16  |  Boycott 09/12/07
  40.   Absolute Nonsens 16:16  |  Futura 09/12/07
  41.   Sorry Levi: Their blood is on Shehadeh, not Dichter 16:45  |  AA 09/12/07
  42.   The settlements are a nice plain case 17:07  |  Fritz Teich 09/12/07
  43.   #17 Spyguy - This is only start... 17:25  |  17 09/12/07
  44.   Yes, bring all war criminal to justice 17:27  |  El-birawi 09/12/07
  45.   One nation! 17:28  |  Mikael Levi 09/12/07
  46.   #34 Brod 17:36  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/12/07
  47.   Even Ha`aretz thinks Levi exaggerates 17:41  |  Shlomo 09/12/07
  48.   #32 Victorpaul Harrisman from Tel Aviv 17:49  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  49.   To levy 17:52  |  The Teacher/Instruct 09/12/07
  50.   Bravo Gideon Levy! You will be first to be brought to justice 17:59  |  Genuine Tosefta 09/12/07
  51.   Jew`s crack me up 18:02  |  Ba Nang 09/12/07
  52.   to eric in nm # 12 18:35  |  Judah N. Wenkel 09/12/07
  53.   note the totally idiot responses from the admirers 18:36  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  54.   to eric in nm # 23, -I have an answer for You.... 18:42  |  Judah N. Wenkel 09/12/07
  55.   How many Israelis did Shehadeh kill? 18:44  |  David 09/12/07
  56.   Blame Shehadeh 19:00  |  Bklyn Birny 09/12/07
  57.   ISRAEL WOULD STOP AT ONCE, LEVY 19:04  |  indrajaya 09/12/07
  58.   Labhrás #48,#53. 19:06  |  Séamus 09/12/07
  59.   Schocken Landau Levy -Quisling journalism 19:07  |  Shalom Freedman 09/12/07
  60.   #20 Michael 19:09  |  Lou Medel 09/12/07
  61.   Gideon beware, the spirit of Yigal Amir... 19:14  |  Lou Medel 09/12/07
  62.   Labhras #53 19:14  |  BklynBirny 09/12/07
  63.   THOSE YOU CALL "WAR CRIMINALS" GIVE ISRAEL LIFE 19:25  |  Jorge 09/12/07
  64.   Response to Ba-Nang ( #51) 19:27  |  Tod Zuckerman 09/12/07
  65.   #53 Labras, It`s just a matter of time in the US too 19:34  |  Dutch 09/12/07
  66.   #54 Judah N Wenkel re Eric #23 19:40  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  67.   The point you are all forgetting 19:52  |  Steve 09/12/07
  68.   Only HOMICIDAL RACIST COWARDS would support IDF/Shin Bet actions 20:06  |  ANTI-RACIST 09/12/07
  69.   #10 Cipora Julianna Kohn re prosecution of war crimes 20:18  |  Ben Alofs 09/12/07
  70.   Levy is right, but in the real world ... 20:30  |  haim shmendrik 09/12/07
  71.   Tell-tale responses 20:35  |  Colin Wright 09/12/07
  72.   #65 Dutch re Justice delayed is justice denied 20:36  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  73.   #58 Seamus????? 20:39  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  74.   #37 Mickey, Sharon COUNTED on the falangists... 20:59  |  Ben Alofs 09/12/07
  75.   "War Crimes" - without War? 21:06  |  17 09/12/07
  76.   Spyguy, 17, If you think oil can be used to eliminate Israel 21:15  |  The Equalizer 09/12/07
  77.   REMINDER: G.LEVY ONLY WRITES EXAGGERATED, ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA 21:20  |  Steve Randolph 09/12/07
  78.   #62 Brklyn Birny 21:22  |  Labhras 09/12/07
  79.   Levy`s nonsence, The left turning on the army that protects it 21:26  |  Smarter then Levy 09/12/07
  80.   ALL war criminals, yes 21:26  |  jorge e toer 09/12/07
  81.   More BS from Gidon Levy - an unrepetant O