Supreme Court judge slams culture of civilian vigilantism
Justice Levy makes comments in ruling on settler who shot at Palestinian truck driving on Israeli-only West Bank road.
By Haaretz Service and Yuval YoazSupreme Court justice Edmund Levy on Thursday criticized the culture of civilian "vigilantism," singling out in particular residents of "those areas of the country over the Green Line," a reference to settlers in the West Bank.
Levy's comments came as part of a ruling Thursday to reject a petition by Menachem Livni of Kiryat Arba, who was convicted of negligent and reckless behavior with a firearm and sabotage of a vehicle.
Livni was convicted at Jerusalem District Court in June 2003, for stopping a Palestinian truck that had been traveling on a West Bank "security road," and therefore not for Palestinian use. He pointed a gun at the driver, shot at the tires on the truck, and accidentally hit one of the headlights.
"It's already been long-forgotten that in a democratic state that has the rule of law as a guiding light, one cannot accept a defective situation in which civilians have the freedom to take the law into their own hands and act as replacement law enforcement agents," Levy wrote in the ruling.
Livni headed a Jewish terrorist organization in the 1980s and was convicted at the time of a nationalistic murder.
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Murder is murder , no matter what you say and how you try to plaster it over. The Supreme Court should have handed down a verdict (Menachem Livni)of death by castration , or better hand him to a mob of real angry humans. Where is the rule of law , if there is one law for one , and anathor for a other , therfore if the Supreme Court wants to stop mob justice they must shave everybody with the same razor. Have we not learn from the past , what happens if a Supreme Court become corrupt and support political masters (Natzi's,kossovo,Zimbabwe exct.) (as an observation Bush is trying to pull the same thing in the U.S.A by getting rid of all the state prosecuters -futcher Justices on the Supreme Court- that is independant and critical) In conclusion , if the Supreme Court want to stop vigilantism it is only within the power of the Supreme Court to be -above all , be blind , and hold the power to convict .Otherwise it only become a mouth-piece to an organ. So - murder i hold most foul.
i am stunned by the contrast those on the other part of the "so- called'green'line" how deeply racists they are. when it comes to colonizers of the land"settlers" they shyly speak out against their heynas acts against non zionists once in a while, when it comes to NATIVE PALESTINIANS they condition their acceptance, just acceptance to very very strictly defined moralestic criteria. what racism is if this is not?
Viglantism is a disaster for israel. Any state so small and so surrounded by enemies needs discipline and unified military command. All the disorder, chaos and criminality needs to be kept at the level of MK's and cabinet members. Israel will be seriously endangered by armed militias or vigilantes that are not under the discipline and military leadership of the IDF or intelligence organization. Once israel starts falling down to the level of the palestinians on military discipline and unified leadership, it is the beginning of the end of israel, and time for your enemies to rejoice.
Cops are seldom around when they're needed. Since they're rather scarce and hard to find, one must take it upon themseles to provide self defense. Where I live, we seldom see a policeman, it becomes a do-it-yourself proposition. As the old saying goes, "Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six". Thanks for you concern, now let me express mine, have they jailed all the Muslim Aussei rapists yet? Aboriginies, what have you personally done to better their situation?? I guess you don't have the time to attend to matters at home, you're so concerned with the M.E.
the Jewish terrorist organization is alive and well today-vigilante settlers in the West Bank!
Edmund Levy criticizes the "settlers" for lawlessness, what a joke. We have a President under indictment for sex crimes, a justice minister convicted of sex crimes, fugitive Arab MKs being hunted for treason, A finance minister under investigation for corruption, a PM about to be indicted for corruption, the Arab population involved in tens of honor killings against female family members, prosecutors who leak classified info to the media, a former Supreme Court Vice President who threatens violence against anyone who criticizes the High Court including the new Justice Minister, zillions of police officials suspected of felonies, a Comptroller report that documents the dismal state of the home front that is being suppressed for political reasons, Arab Mks that travel to enemy states to provide support to terrorist groups, officials of the Tax Authority involved in the theft of millions of dollars of tax revenues and the big problem is settler vigilanteeism.
Mr Levy is talking 'terrorism', right? That would be the term used if a Palestinian would show 'vigilant' behaviour in the country 'over the Green Line'.
Its the Palestinians that are the cold blooded killers desperate for Jewish blood. Those poor Israelis they've been so good to the Palestinians and what do they get in return....NOTHING!
The fundamental reason why rational people agree to accept the moral authority of a government, is because the gov't is supposed to provide security both from external enemies and from local criminals. The alternative to no gov't is anarchy. However in Justice Edmund Levy's paradise of rule-of-law, the gov't systematically ignores the security needs of large sectors of the population. Shimon Peres used to refer to Jerusalemites murdered during the Oslo bus bombing spree as "sacrifices for the peace process". He dismissively referred to the over 1000 missiles fired into Sederot and southern Israel as "Kassamim Shmassamim". Official Israeli police policy in Judea and Samaria is not to defend Jews against Arab attacks - that is the IDF's task. And if the Arab's are "only" involved in non-lethal crimes then the IDF could care less too. Mr. Levy, I wonder what is the root cause of this culture of vigilantism?
..there is little else to do but defend yourself. Police and even the army are very reluctant to protect Jewish civilians in conflict with Arabs and it is not only in so called settlements. During Independence Day near Haifa, Jewish families had to flee their clebration picnic due to a 6,000 strong Arab nakba day celebration close by which resulted in Arab attacks on Jews. Despite cell phone calls by the Jews, there was never an Israeli presence until a police vehicle finally responded and did nothing. A amn has a right to defend his life and his property. We know that in the US. Too bad the Israeli Supreme COurt doesn't.
As he attacked only Arabs, it's OK for Israel to let him carry firearms.
How come this guy, with a murder conviction on his name, is even allowed to have a fire-arm in his possession?
"Nationalistic murder", that's an interesting term, a crime of passion no doubt, i.e. due to excessive zeal that accompanies the urge to rob land for the benefit of one's nation! Let's compare treatment of these "nationalistic murders" to the treatment of enemy prisioners with "blood on their hands" who rot away in Israeli jails. Convicted of murder on July 10, 1985, sentences commuted (three separate times) by President Chaim Herzog, and freed on Dec. 26, 1990; greeted home as heroes. That's pretty reasonable, it was only "nationalistic murder" after all.