Summary
Chief of the Shin Bet (1928-2014) who, in the Shin Bet Affair as Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine presents it, ordered the illegal execution of two captured Bus Line 300 hijackers and covered up his own responsibility by undermining state investigative commissions (PDF p.87-88).
Details
- Shalom was on site at Deir al-Balah on April 12, 1984 and ordered the execution of the two overpowered hijackers after their brief interrogation; he persuaded Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Minister of Defense Moshe Arens to include his own man Yossi Genossar in the Zorea commission, and used him as a Trojan horse to keep the truth from emerging (PDF p.88).
- His deputy Reuven Hazak, with Rafi Malka and Peleg Radai, asked him to resign on October 14, 1985 after discovering he had acted on his own initiative; Prime Minister Shimon Peres defended him — “My duty is to fight terrorism, and for this purpose I need the best man. This man is Abrum [Avraham Shalom], so let him do his work” (PDF p.89-92).
- Pardoned by President Chaim Herzog on June 25, 1986, he resigned by the end of 1986 after a police investigation left no doubt the two hijackers had been killed on his orders; he maintained he had acted on the grounds of a private meeting with Shamir in November 1983, which Shamir told the police had given no authorisation to act (PDF p.95-96).