Justice for Negligent Homicide
Our American 18 year old son and only child, Ariel Yitzchak a"h, was negligently killed in Israel by Israelis on September 10, 2014. He died of exertional heat stroke near the end of an organized hike in the Judean desert, only one week after having just arrived from New York by airplane.
The Israeli government has gone out of its way to ignore this homicide and refuses to investigate seriously or prosecute, despite the overwhelming evidence already at hand. The dysfunction in how the Israeli justice system has improperly handled our son's death from the very beginning has been extensively written in The Jerusalem Post but has been reported also in The New York Post and Ynet (a Hebrew-language online news outlet).
The only action left at this point (the Israel State Attorney's Office denied our appeal of the decision by the Israel DA in the South to not prosecute anyone) is to sue the Israeli prosecutors in the Israel Supreme Court for failure to carry out their duties faithfully. This will cost a lot of money in lawyer's fees, court fees, translation fees, etc.
Israel has made a clear statement that hiking is more important to them than the lives of visiting Americans and that heat-safety for visitors is not a serious issue at all to the authorities in Israel. Other Americans have died of exertional heat stroke while on an organized hike in Israel since our only child was killed and the authorities still refuse to mandate any improvements in heat safety despite all our extensive efforts. Israel has never prosecuted a negligent homicide case when an Israeli has killed an American. This must change. Israelis who recklessly put our children and loved ones at risk and result in their hospitalization and/or death must be held accountable. Please help us fight for justice!
Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) “The words of this verse form an exhortation to judges that they must thoroughly search and examine their cases to arrive at the truth.” [From The Torah Anthology/MeAm Loez, The Portion of Shoftim, published by Moznaim Publishing Corporation, 1992, page 208]
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Was-US-gap-year-students-death-negligent-homicide-482653 February 26, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Will-state-reopen-case-in-American-hikers-death-case-494440 June 1, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Exclusive-Israel-to-reopen-case-of-American-hikers-death-after-Jpost-exposés-500047 July 18, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Will-top-prosecutor-block-confrontation-of-main-suspect-in-hikers-death-514177 November 14, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Closure-for-the-Newmans-514487 November 17, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Exclusive-Israel-to-reopen-case-of-American-hikers-death-a-second-time-after-Post-exposés-515277 November 27, 2017
https://nypost.com/2018/01/06/parents-demand-answers-over-sons-death-in-israeli-desert-death-march/ January 6, 2018
https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5069035,00.html January 11, 2018
The Israeli government has gone out of its way to ignore this homicide and refuses to investigate seriously or prosecute, despite the overwhelming evidence already at hand. The dysfunction in how the Israeli justice system has improperly handled our son's death from the very beginning has been extensively written in The Jerusalem Post but has been reported also in The New York Post and Ynet (a Hebrew-language online news outlet).
The only action left at this point (the Israel State Attorney's Office denied our appeal of the decision by the Israel DA in the South to not prosecute anyone) is to sue the Israeli prosecutors in the Israel Supreme Court for failure to carry out their duties faithfully. This will cost a lot of money in lawyer's fees, court fees, translation fees, etc.
Israel has made a clear statement that hiking is more important to them than the lives of visiting Americans and that heat-safety for visitors is not a serious issue at all to the authorities in Israel. Other Americans have died of exertional heat stroke while on an organized hike in Israel since our only child was killed and the authorities still refuse to mandate any improvements in heat safety despite all our extensive efforts. Israel has never prosecuted a negligent homicide case when an Israeli has killed an American. This must change. Israelis who recklessly put our children and loved ones at risk and result in their hospitalization and/or death must be held accountable. Please help us fight for justice!
Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) “The words of this verse form an exhortation to judges that they must thoroughly search and examine their cases to arrive at the truth.” [From The Torah Anthology/MeAm Loez, The Portion of Shoftim, published by Moznaim Publishing Corporation, 1992, page 208]
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Was-US-gap-year-students-death-negligent-homicide-482653 February 26, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Will-state-reopen-case-in-American-hikers-death-case-494440 June 1, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Exclusive-Israel-to-reopen-case-of-American-hikers-death-after-Jpost-exposés-500047 July 18, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Will-top-prosecutor-block-confrontation-of-main-suspect-in-hikers-death-514177 November 14, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Closure-for-the-Newmans-514487 November 17, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Exclusive-Israel-to-reopen-case-of-American-hikers-death-a-second-time-after-Post-exposés-515277 November 27, 2017
https://nypost.com/2018/01/06/parents-demand-answers-over-sons-death-in-israeli-desert-death-march/ January 6, 2018
https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5069035,00.html January 11, 2018
