Israeli Soldier’s Suicide Linked to Arab’s Death
An Israeli reserve soldier has committed suicide, reportedly because he feared being blamed in the beating death of a Palestinian.
Israeli newspapers said Friday that Yariv Bar-Yosef finished work as a night guard at the state-run television studio Thursday, put an Uzi submachine gun to his head and shot himself.
In a suicide letter, Bar-Yosef, 25, said he faced questioning by military police and feared that he would become a scapegoat for other soldiers involved in the beating death of Hani Shami in August, 1988, the news reports said.
An army spokesman refused comment on the suicide, saying the case is under investigation.
Four soldiers of an elite infantry brigade were charged with beating Shami to death while on patrol. They were acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of brutality after a military tribunal ruled that Shami died of beatings inflicted at the Jabaliya detention center, where he was taken later.
Bar-Yosef, who served at the detention center, told investigators he kicked Shami in the shoulder the day he died.
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