Please click here for a list of posts relating to the investigation of the murder of Destau Bisset, Hy”d, and click here for a list of posts relating to the Arab rioting throughout Israel in May 2021.
Thursday, January 27, 2022, 15:05 The family of Destau Bisset, Hy”d, who was murdered during the May 2021 Arab rioting, is demanding that the GSS thoroughly investigate the murder of their father. The GSS examined the material that the police transferred to them, and then informed the family that they would not investigate the murder. They stated that the evidence does not indicate that the incident was an act of terror, and under such circumstances “the GSS does not have the authority to investigate the incident.”
Honenu Attorney sent letter to Rishon LeTzion Magistrates Court
In response, Honenu Attorney Ariel Atari sent a letter to the Rishon LeTzion Magistrates Court asking Judge Tal Aner to personally examine all of the evidence and determine what information the police transferred to the GSS. The reason for the request is that the police initially claimed that the incident was a traffic accident and only months later accepted the family’s claim that it was a murder. Atari reiterated that initially the police presented to the GSS only part of the evidence that they had gathered.
Atari also mentioned in the letter that recently cases were publicized which contradict, on the face of it, the reply from the GSS regarding their lack of authority. Therefore, Atari asked the court to order the GSS to present the criteria that grant them the authority to investigate an incident and without which they do not participate in an investigation.
Additionally, Atari reiterated that the family’s demand to investigate the incident does not depend only on the involvement of the GSS, although the GSS has significant potential to advance the investigation.
In conclusion, Atari noted that the family has experienced a lack of attention: “The family of the deceased has already been burnt once by the investigative authorities’ treatment during the investigation of their father’s murder, and they would like to avoid a repetition.”
On October 4, Moshe Shete, the son-in-law of Destau Bisset, Hy”d, spoke at a Public Security Committee meeting in the Knesset about the disregard of the police in solving the murder. Among his concerns, he stated: “From the day he was injured, his daughter and myself ran around for ten days locating security cameras and telling the police to come and gather the documentation. For ten days the police did nothing and did not gather the documentation.
“The following day [after the attack], the daughter of the deceased went to the police station and waited five whole hours until they took her testimony. After five hours, they took them [the family] to a side room, a dining hall, and there they took their testimony. Since then the police have simply continued to belittle the case. Four and a half months have passed since my father-in-law was killed in a nationalistically motivated murder, and nobody cares.”
Honenu Attorney Ariel Atari stated his opinion:
“The impression is that the GSS and the police are doing everything they can to not do anything. The reliance of the GSS on information from the police is [an excuse]. The GSS has proven that when they want to investigate criminal incidents, they do, without claims of ‘lack of authority’. We expect the head of the GSS to order his agents to stop being lazy and to assist with apprehending the murderers, without any discrimination based on the gender, age, or skin color of the victim.”
The Bisset family also responded to the decision by the GSS not to open an investigation:
“We asked the GSS to investigate the murder due to the failure of the police in the investigation. Nine months have passed and the murderers have not been indicted, which proves that the police by themselves are not succeeding in apprehending the assailants. Anyone with intelligence understands that the GSS has resources and ways of investigation that the police do not have.
“And how did the GSS respond? By stating that according to the investigative material they received from the police, there is no suspicion of an act of terror. For this reason we demanded a GSS investigation – because the police did not succeed in their investigation. Using the existing inadequate investigative material as the reason for not opening a thorough investigation is equivalent to laughing in our faces.
“We ask His Honor, the investigative judge in the case, to order the GSS to investigate the murder of our father, Hy”d, with all the resources and ways to which they have access. We are absolutely certain that a thorough and comprehensive investigation will lead to a different outcome than the police investigation. It will lead to the guilty standing trial, and justice will be served, if only slightly, for the sake of our father, Hy”d.”
Destau Bisset, Hy”d, age 74, was run over by two Arabs riding electric bicycles in Ramle in May, during Operation Guardian of the Walls, and succumbed to his injuries approximately three weeks later. Eyewitnesses to the incident stated that the cyclists intentionally collided with Bisset, attempted to run over people waiting at a bus station and then fled the scene.