Inquiry Clears Top Israelis in 1984 Shin Bet Slayings

A government investigation into the 1984 slayings by Israeli security agents of two Palestinian prisoners captured after they took part in the hijacking of a civilian bus has exonerated senior politicians of any culpability in the affair, Israeli television reported Sunday night.

It said that a final, 65-page Justice Ministry report prepared after a five-month police investigation into the killings rejected assertions by former General Security Service chief Avraham Shalom that he had acted “with permission and on authority” of his superiors.

Under Israel’s system, the head of the security service, known here as Shin Bet, reports directly to the prime minister, a post occupied at the time of the bus hijacking, as it is today, by Yitzhak Shamir.

Political Leaders Cleared

The report also clears the political leadership of supporting a cover-up in which security agents tried to shift blame for the killings to an army officer, Israeli television said. It added that the report was submitted Sunday to Shamir and two members of his Cabinet, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Exoneration of Israel’s leadership by the police probe had been widely expected, and there was no explanation why the Justice Ministry’s report on the investigation, originally promised by early October, was delayed.

“Shamir never authorized, in a general sense or specifically, the killing of the terrorists and did not support the falsification of evidence,” the broadcast quoted the report as saying.

Shin Bet Personnel Cleared

Former Shin Bet chief Shalom and 10 other agents received presidential pardons last summer for their roles in the incident. Shalom also resigned his post as part of a negotiated arrangement.

“All members of the Shabak (Shin Bet) who took part felt they acted on authorization and with support of the political leadership, but none of them claim to have heard from the political leaders themselves--only from Shalom,” the report quoted the report as concluding.

It said that investigators found Shalom’s declarations inconsistent and illogical and added that Shamir has asked Israeli Atty. Gen. Yosef Harish to publish the report in full.

The Shin Bet affair stems from the April 13, 1984, hijacking of an Israeli commuter bus by four Palestinians.

Authorities first said that all four hijackers were killed during a pre-dawn assault on the hijackers by Israeli counterterrorist forces. But photographs published in defiance of the Israeli censor later showed two of the hijackers being led alive to a nearby field where, it was subsequently revealed, they were beaten to death.