Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi; Photo credit: Honenu
At a December 2015 wedding, participants were seen waving weapons and photographs of the infant who died in the July 2015 arson incident in Kfar Duma. The wedding became known as the “Wedding of Hate”. See here and here for two instances of central evidence lost by the police in the “Wedding of Hate” case, and here for a false detention in the case, for which the detainee received compensation.
Monday, April 19, 2021, 12:18 The Jerusalem Magistrates Court approved a request by the attorneys of two of the defendants in the “Wedding of Hate” trial and ordered the summons of Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon to testify, despite opposition from the Attorney General’s office. Ya’alon was Defense Minister at the time of the wedding and the defense asked the court to focus on a television interview that he gave.
In the interview, which Ya’alon conducted with Rina Matzliah on Channel 12 (Israeli), he justified publicizing a video of the wedding on television. Ya’alon explained that it was in reaction to a “campaign” which dealt with torturing the detainees in the Duma case.
As stated in the request, there was “in other words, ‘a counter-campaign’ by the State [of Israel] and the establishment by means of publicizing a recording of a private event, the wedding.” Ya’alon’s expressions in the interview emphasize the importance of the unfolding of the events prior to opening the investigation and the ulterior motives on which it was based. The goal of the defense is that these statements will strengthen their claims of “abuse of process”, among other claims.
Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi, who is representing one of the defendants: “The court approved the summons of Ya’alon, thereby determining that his testimony is critical for clarifying the motives behind indicting the defendants.”
Before the court made their decision, Hajbi stated: “Bogie Ya’alon, then Minister of Defense, spoke on every platform and unequivocally revealed that the case was inherently unjust. The case was opened not because of the acts that were carried out, but rather to distract attention from the torture which the detainees in the Duma case were undergoing. I am of the opinion that the court, after a thorough interrogation of Ya’alon, will understand the situation as we did from the first day.”
Since the July 2015 arson attack on the Dawabshe family’s house in Kfar Duma, Honenu has assisted many Jews accused of involvement with the crime. For a selection of posts describing Honenu Attorneys’ representation of defendants and GSS interrogatees, see here. To familiarize our readers with the case, Honenu has gathered – see here – various articles and short videos on the subject.