Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman attacked the hypocrisy in the American and European request for a thorough investigation into the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers – allegedly by the IDF – during the May 15 Nakba Day riots by Ofer Prison near Ramallah.
“"We don't need an American request to inquire the subject,” Liberman said on Wednesday during a visit to Ariel University in the Samaria region of the West Bank.
“I reject any request and the hypocrisy we see worldwide,” Liberman said.
The Palestinians and a number of non-governmental groups have charged that the IDF killed the two 17-year olds by shooting them with live ammunition during a calm moment in an otherwise violent event.
The IDF has denied the charge and insisted that it only used rubber bullets during the riot. The Military Police is conducting a limited investigation into the incident, but has not published any conclusions.
The story returned to the headlines yesterday after the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International and B’Tselem – The Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories published video footage that showed the teens as they were shot.
In response to a reporter’s question about the incident in Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that America expected Israel to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation.
The European Union missions in Ramallah and Jerusalem also spoke of the need for a more thorough investigation and denounced the use of lethal force. “We reiterate the need for security forces, whether Israeli or Palestinian, to refrain from the use of lethal force, except in cases where there is a real and imminent threat to life,” the missions said.
Liberman said in response, “the IDF is the most moral military in the world, and the IDF is checking his actions continually.
“I only wish that this sort of requirements will appear in other cases, in Syria around 170,000 people were killed and I didn't see any request from the international community to inquire these killings.
“Hamas has executed two men in the Gaza strip after accusing them of spying for Israel, without a lawyer or a fair trial. I didn't see any request to investigate that.
“We will inquire this event do to our obligation to the moral code of the IDF,” Liberman said.
“Furthermore, I find it odd that the video was published with a large gap from the occurrence of the events in question, and all of these things will be examined,” he said.
The IDF has also attacked the authenticity of the video footage published, including those from B’Tselem.
The NGO had taken footage from security cameras used by store owners on the street where the teens were shot and produced two short videos that showed the moments of their death.
It said that it had 12 hours of footage, from the incident, which are available to those who are interested.
Its spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said that the IDF has obtained the same footage from the Palestinians.