Destau Bisset, Hy”d; Photo courtesy of the family
Please click here for a list of posts relating to the mid-May Arab rioting throughout Israel.
Thursday, July 22, 2021, 8:19 The Bisset family asked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to order the GSS to launch a GSS investigation into the murder of their father, Destau, Hy”d, and bring the suspects to trial. During Arab rioting at the time of Operation Guardian of the Walls, two Arabs riding electric bicycles in Ramleh ran over Destau, who later died of his injuries.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the family, sent the request letter to the Office of the Prime Minister. To the family’s great surprise, they received a terse, dry reply, that did not acknowledge their sensitive situation, stating that the matter is the responsibility of the police. Bleicher sent an additional letter to Prime Minister Bennett, objecting to the treatment of the family and reiterating the request for a GSS investigation.
In response, the Office of the Prime Minister wrote that “the Israeli Police is the authority responsible for apprehending criminals, maintaining public order and protecting lives in the State of Israel. Claims regarding the conduct of the police may be directed to the Ministry of Public Security.”
The response lacked any expression of sympathy for the bereavement of the family, any words of consolation and any assurance to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
The family responded: “We were disappointed by the laconic reply from the Office of the Prime Minister. Our father was murdered in the city of Ramleh during severe riots against Jews. We expected the Prime Minister to show more sensitivity, to thoroughly involve himself with an issue of national importance, and not to be satisfied with a brief, technical answer that does not address the crisis situation of our family, who in addition to coping with sorrow over the shocking murder, is coping with deficiencies in the investigation and lack of attention from all of the authorities handling the murder case.
“We repeat our demand that the security forces immediately apprehend our father’s murderers and not rest until the murderers are brought to justice.”
In a second letter, Bleicher leveled criticism at the response by the Prime Minister to the family’s request: “In addition to the ‘laconic’ reply given to the family not being at all appropriate, the reply completely ignores the danger to security and the concerns over which the transfer of the murder investigation to the GSS was requested.
“Two murderers are wandering freely, and there is an extremely great likelihood that their acts were motivated by nationalistic terror. From the testimonies it appears that the murderers identified the victim and then ran him over.”
Bleicher described the failure of the police to investigate the attack: “Unfortunately, it turned out that despite the severity of the incident and the report of an attack, the local police had washed their hands of it and had not investigated the attack at all.”
The morning after the attack, when members of the family went to the police station to file a complaint, the policemen were unacquainted with the incident and waited until the afternoon to take their testimony.
The foot-dragging with regard to a properly thorough investigation continued for days afterwards. Approximately three weeks after the attack, Bisset succumbed to his injuries. During this time his family repeatedly contacted the police and were told that a special investigative team had been formed, but there were not yet any leads.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is assisting the family, asked the Prime Minister “to order the GSS to launch an investigation and to devote all the resources necessary to apprehend the terrorists and to return a minimal sense of security to loyal Israeli citizens. The family has no recourse, and the police have no answers.”