Police officers fired for failing to prevent girls’ murders

Police chief Yohanan Danino on Friday dismissed Arad police station commander Yoni Zeitek after an investigation into the murder of two girls near the southern city revealed “low standards” of police conduct. Police failed to act on the mother’s warning that the girls might be in danger at the hands of her husband.

In addition to Zeitek, Danino dismissed the station’s sub-commander and head of investigations. He also reprimanded other officers involved in the case, such as the investigator who had heard the girls’ mother’s testimony warning that their father might attempt to hurt them.

The girls were laid to rest on Friday morning, three days after they were found dead. Their mother, Abir Dandis, blamed the police for the tragedy, saying it would not have occurred were it not for their negligence.

“I’ll settle the score with them yet,” Dandis told Channel 2.

On Friday evening, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich told Channel 2 that the Arad incident was “very bad,” as it was caused by negligence on the part of the entire senior staff of the police station.

“This led to failure, with tragic consequences,” Aharonovich said.

Southern police chief Yoram Halevi, meanwhile, said the police force “knows how to take responsibility” for its mistakes.

“We’re not perfect, but we know how to learn a lesson,” Halevi told the news channel, conveying his apologies to the girls’ mother for the  mistakes of the policemen.

On Wednesday, police arrested the mother of the two young girls, who were found dead Tuesday night in a Bedouin village near Arad. Four other family members were also arrested on suspicion of connection to the murder, and the police were looking for the sisters’ father.

The girls, aged three and five, were found dead in their beds at their home in the Bedouin village of al-Fora’a.

On Monday, 24 hours before the bodies of the girls were discovered, the mother had told the police she feared their father could hurt them.

Police said an initial examination gave reason to believe the two were murdered. They said the bodies showed signs of violence and strangulation, and were transferred to the coroner to determine the cause of death. Neither parent was in the house at the time the bodies were found.

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