Police Inspector General David Kraus told a Knesset panel Tuesday that there are no grounds for disciplinary action against three police officers who let terrorists speed by their roadblock March 7 in a stolen military car.
While Kraus called the incident “an understandable accident,” Knesset member Mordechai Virshubski of the Shinui Party insists it was a serious blunder. The terrorists went on to hijack a bus carrying workers from Beersheba to the nuclear plant at Dimona, resulting in the deaths of three of the passengers.
The Israel Defense Force already has disciplined three junior officers who allowed the terrorists to seize their vehicle because they were unarmed — in violation of regulations.
Now that the Supreme Court has ordered the military censor to lift its ban on publishing details of the incident, the public can decide whether the police were in any way culpable.
Kraus, who appeared at a closed-door meeting of the Knesset Interior Committee Tuesday night, before censorship was lifted, said the police officers were in the process of setting up the roadblock when the terrorists appeared in the stolen car.
One police officer who was moving the barrier into place was not carrying his weapon. Another fired his Uzi submachine gun at the terrorists, but it jammed. The third policeman fired and hit the speeding vehicle, but was not able to disable it.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
