Military Court Acquits Company Commander

November 15th, 2005

IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT

Southern Command Military Court acquits company commander charged with
illegal use of a weapon in the death of the Palestinian girl, Iman El
Hams.

Today, November 15th, 2005, the Southern Command military court,
presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Mishnaiot, Lieutenant Colonel
(res.) Judge Alon Gilon and Lieutenant Colonel Oziel Fridman, has
unanimously ruled to acquit Captain "R" of all charges against him last
year in regards to the death of Iman El Hams on October 5th, 2004, close
to an IDF post on the Israeli-Egypt border near the city of Rafah.

Captain R was charged with the illegal use of a weapon, one count of
obstruction of justice, one count of acting beyond the scope of
authority in a potentially lethal manner, and a count of unbecoming
conduct while serving as a company commander in the Givati during the
incident in which the Palestinian girl, Iman El Hams, was killed.

The court noted that respect for the dead is an important moral value
and should be carefully applied even at the times of war, whether or not
they are Israeli, even in the event of a terrorist situation in which
the enemy is killed. Therefore the court noted, that once suspicion was
aroused that the defendant behaved unlawfully, and fired at the body of
the deceased without authorization, and in doing so degrading and
desecrating the body of the deceased, it would have been fitting to have
opened an investigation into whether there had been a violation of the
ethics of engagement and purity of arms, it is therefore appropriate
that enforcement officials decided to open an investigation.

Following the evidence trial in which a long line of witnesses
testified, the court has ruled that throughout the entire incident the
defendant believed that there was an attempt by a terrorist to carry out
an attack, in accordance with specific warnings brought to their
attention in the days leading up to the event regarding an imminent
terror attack on the same outpost.

The court has determined Captain R's testimony to be truthful with
regard to the manner in which he had held his weapon while firing the
round, this is supported by additional testimonies and indicates that
these rounds were not fired with the intent of hitting the deceased but
rather as a means of deterrence to secure a dangerous area before
leaving it.

The court criticized the manner in which the Military Police
investigation was conducted. The court added that several of the
testimonies provided by the prosecution were not to be relied upon.
These testimonies stated that Captain R had been seen shooting rounds at
the deceased, and stemmed from friction between the Captain and soldiers
in the company following his objection to the wrongful practices in the
company carried out by the veteran soldiers against the new soldiers.
This led to an attempt by several soldiers, in various ways, to bring
about Captain R's expulsion from the company.

This incident reflects the complex reality that the IDF must deal with
in its effort to fight Palestinian terror.

The terror organizations operate from within and with the protection of
the civilian Palestinian population, endangering innocent lives and
indeed bringing to harm innocent civilians during the conflict.

The IDF does its utmost to learn from these incidents and minimize the
potential risk to the safety of civilians not involved with terror.

The IDF wishes once again to express its deepest regret and sorrow for
the death of Iman Al Hams.