Staff Sgt. (res.) Aviad Frija mistook Yuval Doron Castleman for a terrorist in the heat of a Hamas attack.
(JNS)
Israel Defense Forces prosecutors filed manslaughter charges on Thursday against a reservist who mistakenly killed an armed Israeli bystander during a terrorist attack in Jerusalem in November 2023.
Staff Sgt. (res.) Aviad Frija will face charges of manslaughter under diminished responsibility for killing Yuval Doron Castleman in the heat of the Nov. 30, 2023, Hamas shooting at the western entrance to Israel’s capital.
IDF soldiers convicted of manslaughter have previously been convicted to sentences of less than two years, while the diminished responsibility defense could shorten the time to several months.
Castleman, a former officer with the Israel Police, was driving when he saw two Palestinian terrorists opening fire at a bus stop. He got out of his car and shot and killed the assailants, ending the attack, the indictment said.
Frija, who was off-duty, mistook Castleman for a terrorist and opened fire even as another soldier urged him to cease. Footage of the incident showed Castleman yelling, “Don’t shoot,” as he was mortally wounded.
Thursday’s indictment alleged that Frija kept firing even after it became clear that Castleman posed no threat and took off his coat, raised his hands, threw down his weapon and presented his Israeli ID card. The IDF Code of Ethics does not allow shooting a suspect who surrendered.
Defense attorneys claimed that though Castleman raised his hands, he made other suspicious moves. According to the defendant, the footage shared on social media did not reflect the actual situation that day.
Three Israelis were killed and six people were wounded in the terrorist shooting on Weizman Boulevard at the main entrance to Jerusalem.
The victims were Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, 73, a judge in the rabbinical court in Ashdod; Hanna Ifergan, a 67-year-old a resident of Jerusalem’s Makor Baruch neighborhood and the principal of the Banot Hadassah school in Beit Shemesh; and 24-year-old Livia Dickman, a teacher at the Derech Emunah school and a resident of the capital’s Har Nof neighborhood. The latter victim had married eight months earlier and was pregnant.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2023 called for a “thorough inquiry” into Castleman’s death, describing him as a “hero of Israel.”
“In a supreme act of bravery, Yuval saved many lives. However, unfortunately, a terrible tragedy occurred there and the man who had saved others was killed,” he said after speaking with Castleman’s father.
Image: IDF Staff Sgt. (res.) Aviad Frija, suspected of killing a civilian at the scene of a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, during a hearing at the Beit Lid military court, Dec. 26, 2023. Credit: Flash90.
