Scandal Worsens in Israel

The scandal involving Israel’s domestic intelligence service has only deepened as a result of the deal giving the head of that agency immunity from criminal prosecution. The deal aims at quashing any further investigation into the behavior of Avraham Shalom, chief of the Shin Bet, who has been accused of covering up the killing of two captured Palestinian terrorists. Shalom was given immunity, in exchange for his resignation, ostensibly to prevent further disclosures that could harm state security. The widespread and not implausible suspicion in Israel is that the deal in fact was made largely to protect some of the country’s political leaders from embarrassing revelations about their own involvement in the cover-up.

The case began on April 12, 1984, when four young Palestinians hijacked an Israeli bus. Hours later, security agents stormed the bus. An official statement claimed that all four hijackers, along with one passenger, died in the attack. But Israeli newspapers had pictures of two of the terrorists being taken from the bus alive. Publication of the pictures, in defiance of military censorship, forced an official inquiry. In time it came out that the two Palestinians had been beaten to death, in clear violation of Israeli law that forbids killing unarmed prisoners. Who ordered the killings and who carried them out remains unknown. But Shalom, the head of Shin Bet, was on the scene at the time. He is also believed to have been in close touch throughout the incident with then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who is scheduled to reclaim that office in October.

Three senior Shin Bet officials resigned last December to protest Shalom’s alleged attempts to hide the truth about the affair. Earlier this month Israel’s attorney general also quit after he was prevented from further investigating the case. Now Shalom, though he has been convicted of nothing, has been granted executive immunity in a move that prominent Israeli judicial authorities denounce as illegal and a whitewash.

Shamir, who currently serves as foreign minister, has never denied that he knew of the coverup. It also seems likely that Shimon Peres, who succeeded Shamir as prime minister, at some point found out about what was going on within the intelligence agency. It is these things that give the Shalom immunity deal the aroma of political self-protectiveness, and that have prompted an outcry among many Israelis. Terrorism has no constituency in Israel. The rule of law does, and the signs most unmistakably are that the rule of law is being shamefully compromised.