Countless words have been written about the outrageous investigation into the Border Police officers who shot and killed a terrorist who stabbed a Jew in Jerusalem. Yes, countless words have been written, and yet they have no address. A majority of the criticism has been directed at "the system." The Israel Police Internal Investigations Unit is not, however, operated by a machine but by an individual, and that individual should be held accountable.
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Keren Bar-Menachem has served as the head of the Internal Investigations Unit since 2018. It is not difficult to see that it has been operating in a rather peculiar, even scandalous way under her leadership. One of its most serious failures concerns the death of 16-year-old Ahuvia Sandak, when the car he was riding in was overturned during a police chase in Binyamin. There were claims the police cruiser had collided with the settler youths' car, but the unit does not appear to have made much of an effort to learn the truth. Bar-Menachem prevented her investigators from investigating four officers despite their possible involvement in the incident. Responding to pressure, these officers were finally called in for questioning just a few days ago. Nothing came of their questioning. Bar-Menachem managed to avoid an investigation by offering a series of excuses although she clearly had the legal authority to do so.
The officers involved in the accident were late to file their report, and the whole thing reeks of a cover-up. One officer who dared to be interviewed on the incident was arrested, questioned, and put under house arrest. Bar-Menachem also sought to investigate Kalman Liebskind, the journalist who dared to write about it. Luckily, she was prevented from doing so by Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit.
This very same Bar-Menachem acted with what can only be described as incredible efficiency when she decided to call the two Border Police officers in to be questioned under warning. It seems someone at the State Attorney's Office and at the Israel Police's Internal Investigations Unit, perhaps Bar-Menachem herself was alarmed by the public criticism of the move and issued a clarification that this was "standard and routine procedure." Depending on the circumstances, the unit investigates the circumstances whenever a civilian is killed by police fire, she told us. This, of course, is far from the truth. A terrorist was killed after perpetrating the attack that killed Eliyahu Kay, a recent immigrant from South Africa, two weeks ago. No one questioned the officers who took that terrorist out under warning. Why was that the case, though, if this is the standard procedure? The same is true of other terrorist attacks that took place in Jerusalem in recent weeks. The police officers acted as they saw necessary. No one dared to question them under warning and confiscate their weapons.
So what happened to Bar-Menachem? She apparently reacted to a video clip published by a Palestinian that showed nothing but the officers taking out the attacker. She didn't wait for the police recording of the entire incident that was released shortly after. Her finger was light on the trigger, and she expected everyone to act accordingly. Is this what professionalism looks like? Discretion? There is great public significance to questioning someone under warning and confiscating their weapon. This decision could cost us lives in the future when a female or male fighter is made to think too many times before acting to stop a terrorist.
Bar Menachem is tough on the weak, including on Ahuvia's bereaved parents, who justifiably want answers and a real investigation, but also on the fighters who are subject to her decisions and anyone that does not actually deserve such treatment. The Internal Investigations Unit is too important to abandon. Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar must show Bar-Menachem the door.
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