Israeli Soldiers Told Not to Fire on Jews, Army Official Tells Panel

Israeli soldiers throughout the West Bank had orders never to fire on Jews, even if they were shooting at Palestinians, a police official told the state commission of inquiry into the Hebron slayings.

Meir Tayar, commander of the border police in Hebron, told the commission on Thursday that as he understood his orders, he could not have opened fire on Baruch Goldstein, even as Goldstein was shooting hundreds of unarmed worshipers.

This brought a rapid denunciation from the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ori Orr.

Orr said if such orders had been given, they were patently “stupid and wrong.”

Gen. Shaul Moufaz of the Israel Defense Force confirmed the orders, telling the panel that the orders had been repeated in numerous briefings.

The Jews were not the enemy, it had been stressed to army personnel, he said.

But, Moufaz continued, it was also clear that Jews firing in clear breach of the law were to be dealt with by all available means.

Had he been present when Goldstein opened fire on Muslim worshipers in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Moufaz said, “I suppose I would have shot at him.”

The panel’s questions, however, showed that its members were more than doubtful about how clear the orders had been.

The five-member panel is headed by Supreme Court Justice Meir Shamgar and includes an Arab judge.

Moufaz also told the panel that the reason Jews were allowed to enter the prayer halls at the Tomb of the Patriarchs carrying their weapons was that they were in danger of possible attack.

Among those seeking to testify before the commission is the B’Tselem human rights organization. The Israeli organization says it has details of 62 settler-perpetrated slayings of Palestinians and of attacks on Palestinian property, which it alleges have been improperly dealt with by the authorities during the seven years of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.

But Kiryat Arba Mayor Zvi Katzover also seeks to testify, with details of hundreds of cases of Palestinians murdering Jews and attacking Jewish property.

Israeli police continued their efforts to confiscate weapons from extreme right-wing settlers.

And Binyamin Kahane, son of the late militant leader Rabbi Meir Kahane and leader of the Kahane Chai movement, was jailed for nine months for attacking policemen three years ago.