Friday, December 28, 2001 Tevet 13, 5762 Israel Time: 05:49 (GMT+2)
08:13 27/12/2001 Last update - 02:29 28/12/2001
High Court: Yatom unfit to be Sharon's anti-terror advisor
By Moshe Reinfeld, Ha'aretz Correspondent
Ehud Yatom, unfit to serve as Sharon's anti-terror advisor.
(Photo: Ha'aretz Archive)
The High Court of Justice ruled Thursday against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's appointment of former acting Shin Bet chief Ehud Yatom as head of the Anti-Terror Council, because of Yatom's role in killing two unarmed prisoners taken alive after a terrorist attack 17 years ago.
The three-justice panel ruled that while nobody disputes Yatom is professionally suitable for the role, "to head an organization such as the Anti-Terror council requires a moral authority."
The decision, written by Justice Eliyahu Mazza on behalf of his colleagues, Dalia Dorner and Tova Strasberg-Cohen, said that "Yatom, in a senior role in the Shin Bet and during activity directly related to dealing with terror, committed such grave criminal acts that he can not be considered having the moral authority required for the head of the council."
The appointment would send a "negative message" to security forces personnel, including rank and file soldiers, about "what is allowed and prohibited in the war against terror." According to the justices, Yatom's appointment would undermine public confidence in the integrity of those in charge of the war on terror. They agreed that even in the midst of a "long and difficult war against murderous terrorists, no compromise can be made on basic values."
In the corridor outside the Supreme Court hall where the justices delivered their opinion, Yatom declared "this is a sad day for all the security forces, and in this case I am their representative. All my life I've worked for the security of the state ... the justices' decision shows they are disconnected from the people."
Yatom also announced he would be entering politics by joining the Likud. Later he made the rounds of the morning radio talk shows reiterating that the security forces had been wronged by the justices.
Reactions split along ideological lines
Sharon said that although he felt Yatom was fit for the anti-terror position, he would not interfere in the Court's ruling.
Meretz MKs Yossi Sarid and Mussi Raz, who petitioned the court against the appointment, praised the justices. Sarid called on Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, who had supported Sharon's appointment of Yatom, to publish all the material concerning the case.
"Only when the public sees the full extent of the horror will it understand why the justices ruled as they did," said Sarid. "More than I thank the justices, the prime minister should thank the court for ridding him of a miserable appointment that could have entangled the country in matters that stink of war crimes." Raz said the decision sets "worthy moral norms" for a democratic state, strengthening democracy.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said that the prime minister, attorney general and civil service commissioner - who also approved Yatom getting the job - suffered a "moral eclipse" in their decision.
On the right, MKs lambasted the court for the decision, with the Likud's Gideon Ezra, himself a former top Shin Bet official, saying that there was "no justification for canceling the appointment, considering the case is 17 years old and all the lessons from it have been learned."
Another Likud MK, Ze'ev Boim, said that the decision was a "slap in the face to all those who endanger their lives for Israel's security," while MK Yuval Steinitz said that the decision was flawed on moral grounds, because the policy of not allowing terrorists to get out alive from hostage situations was implicitly dictated by all prime ministers, and "is not different in principle from what happens in other western democracies." MK Michael Kleiner, of Herut, said that the courts "have become the soft underbelly of Israel's fight against terror."
But Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Justice and Law Committee welcomed the court's decision, saying that Yatom "crossed the red lines of what is allowed in our difficult war against terror."
The origins of the case
The 17-year-old case began with the April 1984 hijacking of Egged Bus 300 from Ashkelon by four terrorists. Two of the terrorists were killed in an IDF assault on the bus. Also killed was a woman soldier.
But two other terrorists were taken off the bus alive and led to a field where they were beaten by bystanders. Yatom, then a 25-year veteran of the Shin Bet, and Avrum Shalom, then head of the secret service, dismissed the bystanders. Shalom ordered Yatom to kill the two, as part of a Shin Bet policy not to let any terrorist survive a hostage-taking situation.
But the deaths of the two unarmed prisoners, who were beaten to death by Yatom and two low-ranking Shin Bet officers, became a major scandal in Israel over the course of two investigations in which Shin Bet officers - including Yatom - lied to the investigators about what happened, covering up the murder of the prisoners.
It was eventually revealed during the course of those investigations that Shin Bet officers routinely lied to the courts, to guarantee confessions elicited through illicit means - i.e., torture - would be accepted in court.
The case threatened the national unity government of the mid-'80s, and eventually led to the unprecedented step of then-attorney general Yitzchak Zamir ordering the police in May 1986 to investigate the Shin Bet for both the murders and obstruction of justice.
To protect the security services' top officers, including Yatom, Shalom and then Shin Bet legal adviser Yossi Ginossar from prosecution, then-president Chaim Herzog pardoned them, before any charges were presented. As a result, none of the Shin Bet officers involved were ever indicted. Indeed, following the incident, Yatom remained in the secret service, rising to the role of acting Shin Bet chief before his retirement in 1997.
In 1998, he sought the job of commander of the Knesset guard, but the Knesset's legal adviser ruled he was not eligible, since the job entailed upholding the law. In September 1999, he took on the job of city manager in Hadera, which he held until October 2000. During that period, he gave interviews detailing how he used a rock to kill the terrorists, and explaining that in retrospect he understands it was an illegal order but at the time seemed part of routine Shin Bet practice.
In June of this year, Prime Minister Sharon decided to appoint him head of an Anti-Terror Council, and won approval for the appointment from Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander, as well as Attorney General Rubinstein. A week after the appointment was announced, Sarid and Raz went to court against it, and under court orders, the appointment was frozen until the final decision yesterday.
Thursday's decision does not rule out all public service jobs for Yatom, the court noted, "as long as it is not directly related to the function in which he failed ... there is not, and cannot be, any correcting or moderating influence, to the time factor, in this case," ruled the justices.
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