Top IDF W. Bank Court: Must enforce punitive damages against murderers

• Author: YONAH JEREMY BOB
• Published date: 13 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

In a ruling handed down on Tuesday and being reported by The Jerusalem Post for the first time now, IDF West Bank Court President Col. Netanel Benishu as well as Judges Lt.-Col. Ronen Atzmon and Lt.-Col. Yair Tirosh also said that punitive damages for terrorist murders could be unlimited.

Their ruling came after the lower Judea Military Court in July 2019 limited the damages for the family of murdered Duvdevan commando St.-Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky to NIS 258,000.

In contrast, the top appeals court granted Lubarsky's family NIS 1,500,000 in punitive damages.

Much of the court decision delved into the history and purpose of damages laws in criminal proceedings in Israeli civilian courts versus the IDF West Bank Courts that deal with the Palestinians.

Although the lower court had said the absence of a ceiling for damages in legislation governing the West Bank was an oversight by the legislator, the top court disagreed.

According to Benishu and his panel, the legislator left out any ceiling for damages, partially taking into account the difficulty of using civil wrongful death damages proceedings against Palestinians, whereas such a process is easier in Israel.

But Benishu went further than declaring there was no ceiling for damages.

In fact, a number of lower courts over the last several years have been granting punitive damages awards in murder cases worth millions of shekels.

However, Benishu lamented that almost nothing has been collected from these awards most of the time.

He said the IDF West Bank commander, who is also the commander for the Home Front, with support from the Israeli civilian government, should pass legislation to establish tactics and mechanisms for collecting these damages.

In lieu of such a mechanism, Benishu warned that the IDF and the government leave the courts looking inept and as if their rulings are meaningless.

Yet, the problem Benishu is highlighted is not entirely unique to the West Bank.

Even in cases where Israeli...