Israel Police panel: Sack senior officers over Pride stabbing

The findings of an internal probe into Israel Police’s failure to thwart the stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Pride parade has just been released, reported the Times of Israel.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man Yishai Schlissel stabbed six people at the gay pride parade on July 30. One of the victims, 16-year-old Shira Banki, later died in hospital from her injuries.

Schlissel had just been released from jail three weeks prior to the July 30 parade; he had served a 10-year sentence for a similar attack on the pride parade in 2005, which left three people wounded.

According to the Times of Israel, senior members of the Jerusalem District Police singled out six individuals – four men, including Schlissel, and two women – ahead of the parade on suspicion that they were planning to carry out acts of violence during the event. Despite this, police did not keep an eye on Schlissel.

Following the stabbings, Israeli public security minister Gilad Erdan and the Israeli police set up a special committee to investigate the police’s failure to prevent Schlissel from striking again.

The panel called for the reprimanding of Jerusalem District Commander Moshe Edri and the sacking of at least three senior police officers.

On Saturday, the victims of the Pride attack sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Erdan, and deputy police commissioner Bentzi Sau. In their letter, they demanded a thorough and transparent investigation and called the attack a “failure” of the police.

“Despite all the warning signs the police didn’t prevent a hate crime that cost the life of a wonderful young girl,” the attack victims wrote.

They added, “When the conclusions are drawn and it is clear who is responsible for the failure we expect them to take personal responsibility for their failures.”

The recommendations of the police probe have been submitted to Sau, who will forward them along with his own recommendations to Erdan.

Police said in a statement that the findings will eventually be made public. They said, “It is our intention to behave with transparency and fairness and to publicise in a proper manner the committee findings after they have been presented, worked on, and decisions made about the issue and likewise after all those connected to the matter are appropriately informed via us [the police] and not via the media.”