Israel Blasts ‘Predictable’ Call for Probe Into Detainee’s Death

Insists Palestinians Are 'Escalating' Situation After Torture Death

Israeli officials have rejected international calls, including those from the Palestinian Authority, to allow an international probe into the killing of detainee Arafat Jaradat, who was detained by Israeli forces and died shortly after signing a “confession,” with his body showing multiple signs of torture.

The officials said that the call for an international probe was “predictable” and part of a Palestinian strategy designed at escalating the situation, noting that Palestinian officials were already reporting the torture within hours of the autopsy.

The UN is calling on Israel to conduct an “independent and transparent investigation” of Jaradat’s death. Israel insists they always do so when they end up killing a detainee, but reiterated that Jaradat’s death was from a “heart attack” and not from the many broken bones, bruises and cuts on his corpse.

Israeli troops have wounded several protesters in the occupied West Bank since Jaradat’s death, using live ammunition in some cases to respond to rock throwers, despite the military’s own rules of engagement explicitly banning the practice.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.