No murder charge for settler who killed Ali Harb
The unnamed settler was released under house arrest.
Jerusalem24 – Israeli channel Kan 11 reported last night that an Israeli court released the settler who killed a Palestinian two weeks ago in the Iskaka area of the Salfit governorate.
27-year-old Ali Hassan Harb was stabbed in the heart by an Israeli settler on his family’s land in Iskaka.
An unnamed settler was arrested the following day.
The official Israeli channel quoted sources familiar with the investigation as saying the Israeli authorities do not intend to charge the settler with murder.
The channel reported that the charge of negligence may be levied against the settler, or the lesser charge of “reckless homicide” – a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.
The settler was released under restricted conditions, including house arrest.
The channel stated that the Shin Bet interrogators are convinced that the killing was “not intentional or on a national basis,” which prompted the Israeli prosecution to request his release.
The settler claimed that he “had to stab” Harb to defend his life and the lives of the young settlers who accompanied him during an incursion into the private Palestinian lands in Salfit that belonged to the Harb family.
These events reflect a similar situation that took place in 2021, when Israeli police released Israeli suspects accused of murdering Moussa Hassouneh, a Palestinian from the city of Lydd.
A leaked video shows Israeli police officers expressing frustration after officials pressure them into omitting a ballistics examination on the bullet that killed Hassouneh.
Several family members of Ali Harb, including Harb’s 55-year-old uncle Naim Harb, have been detained twice by Israeli authorities since Harb was murdered. The detained family members say they were challenged on their witness statements that Israeli soldiers were present at the scene of the murder and did not intervene to stop the settler from stabbing Harb in the heart.
