| Killing of Yuval Castleman | |
| Location: | Givat Shaul, West Jerusalem, Israel |
| Partof: | 2023 Givat Shaul shooting |
| Coordinates: | 31.7917°N 35.1964°W |
| Perpetrators: | Israel Defense Forces |
| Assailant: | Aviad Freija |
The killing of Yuval Castleman occurred on 30 November 2023, during the Givat Shaul shooting in Jerusalem when Yuval Doron Castleman, an Israeli civilian, charged at the attackers in the shooting, killing one of them, and was subsequently shot by Aviad Freija, an IDF soldier, who mistook him for a terrorist.
Castleman was a 38-year-old lawyer from Mevaseret Zion who worked for the . He was a former soldier in the Israeli security forces.[1]
On 30 November 2023, at 7:38 a.m., two Hamas-affiliated militants from Sur Baher exited their car, went to a bus stop by Ben-Gurion Boulevard at the Jerusalem exit and shot and killed 3 people, and wounded others. They returned to their car following the shooting, and Castleman, driving in the opposite lane, got out of his car, drew his gun, urged civilians to evacuate,[2] and charged towards the attackers, firing one bullet at one of the perpetrators, killing him.[3]
Two soldiers at the scene ran to the back of the building and got to the floor, got back up, and approached the terrorists' car.[4] Roi Eisenbach, a reserve soldier from the Golani Brigade, went to the sidewalk and shot the car to his right, killing one of the terrorists. During the neutralization of one of the perpetrators, Castleman was hit by one of the soldiers, either Eisenbach or Aviad Freija, who was farther from the car at the time. Castleman threw down his gun and got to his knees, and stripped his jacket to show he was not hiding any other weapons. Witness testimony alleges[5] that he raised his hands and shouted "I'm Israeli, do not shoot."[6] Freija claims that he did not hear Castleman talk. Castleman was hit again with a bullet, and got to his feet to try to gain the troops' attention that he was not a threat. Freija approached and shot him again. Castleman fell to the ground, and as he collapsed, threw his wallet in the direction of the shooter to show that he was Israeli and not the terrorist.
Castleman was critically wounded, and was determined to have been shot three times by Israeli police. The first emergency responders to arrive at the scene believed he was a terrorist, and did not come to his aid.[7] He was later evacuated and brought to Shaare Zedek Medical Center where he underwent emergency surgery, but succumbed to his injuries, being pronounced dead in the evening.[8] He was buried the following day, stated in an announcement by his employer.[9]
The same day, at 10:00 a.m., following the attack, journalist Yinon Magal called Freija to speak about the incident. Freija stated "There was a terrorist there, and we shot him", and Magal corrected him and stated that there were two terrorists, and not one. Freija was also asked if they had verified the killing, and responded saying "Yes, we shot until they fell", and stated that he did not know if it was his shots that had killed Castleman or Eisenbach's.[10]
Castleman's family was informed of the shooting in the afternoon, when a police officer called them and informed them that Castleman's gun, phone, and wallet were in police custody. It was reported by the evening that Castleman was not one of the terrorists, and was shot by Freija despite not being one of the terrorists.[11]
The attack was initially only investigated by the Jerusalem District Police, without involvement of the .[12] Following public pressure, the MPIU joined the investigation. Eisenbach and Freija, the two soldiers who fired at the scene, were interrogated and Freija was arrested.[13] [14]
On the morning of December 5 at a hearing, the presiding judge, Lieutenant Colonel Toby Hart, ruled that "the suspect [Freija] was fired unlawfully, not out of operational necessity, but out of frivolity regarding the possilibility of someone's death who no longer posed any danger",[15] and added that no bullets were found in the body of the deceased according to police accounts (that would later be corrected), and that no autopsy had been conducted. He further stated "it is highly doubtful whether it will be possible to determine beyond a reasonable doubt at what stage the brain was injured and what injuries would have led to his eventual death." That evening, the court place Freija on house arrest.[16] In the morning on December 7, Freija and Eisenbach each performed their own re-enactment at the scene in front of the military police investigators.[17]
Police had initially released Castleman's body for burial before performing an autopsy, with justification being that the bullets had passed through Castleman's body and were not visible on a CT scan. The officers assigned to the case did not speak to the doctors who operated on Castleman when he initially arrived in a deteriorated condition at the hospital.[18] They called the hospital security officer, who stated that if there were shrapnel or bullets found in Castleman's body, the police would be informed.[19] However, Channel 13 revealed that the CT scan report from the hospital indeed did find metallic remnants of bullet fragments in Castleman's chest and head,[20] and recommended that Castleman's body be exhumed for an autopsy.
The MAG Corps presented the developments from the scan to Castleman's family, and offered to exhume the body and perform a full autopsy expediently. They also offered to have a representative from the National Center for Forensic Medicine view the body, which would help give crucial insight into the investigation. The family agreed to the terms and the body was transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine.[21] On December 10, an autopsy was performed, showing that an M16 rifle bullet and other bullet fragments were found, contrary to the claim in court that freed Freija from custody and placed him under house arrest.[22]
Two weeks after the shooting, it was revealed that the investigators from the police forensics department who had examed Castleman's jacket found no gunshot wounds in it. They concluded that the fatal shooting was carried out only after he took off his coat and got down on his knees. The finding was forwarded to the military police investigative unit before the autopsy was released.[23]
The police commissioner ordered a senior commissioner to examine the autopsy results and the conduct of the investigation. State attorney Amit Eiseman instructed the to open an investigation into the conduct of the police detective team, and blocked the conduction of an independent police investigation.[24]
Following the incident, videos of Castleman were posted across news websites and social media, which led to intense public debate. Topics raised in the discourse included rules of engagement, extrajudicial executions of terrorists, medical assistance to wounded terrorists, and a policy of distributing weapons to civilians. Moshe Castleman, Yuval's father, said, "They just executed him," and demanded an indictment against Freija.[25]
Israel has rules of engagement, which is a procedural law that defines when firearms carriers, especially soldiers, may fire their weapons, without receiving direct firing orders, and specifies the steps to be taken before opening fire. The rules are subject to criticism from various groups in Israel, especially in light of terrorist attacks and in relation to terrorists. Various sources claimed that terrorists who carried out an attack should be shot to death, even if they did not pose an immediate danger.
Many prominent voices of commentary of the shooting, including one editorial in Haaretz, criticized the campaign to encourage execution of terrorists on the ground, regardless of the risk they pose, claiming it led directly to Castleman's killing.[26] Professor similarly criticized the campaign for executions at the scene of a terrorist attack, arguing that in a state of law, the authority to kill a person as punishment does not lie with soldiers or civilians. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi addressed the incident, saying: "We commend the heroism of a civilian who ran bravely into the fire to stop the killing of civilians", adding: "Do not rush to fire when the risk decreases, and we do not shoot those who raise their hands."[27]
As a part of public discourse, it was argued that the policy of expanding the distribution of weapons to civilians, which has significantly increased since the October 7 surprise attack, could cause similar casualty incidents.[28] In response to a question from journalists about the "trigger-happy" hand of Freija and public executions by soldiers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the latter, saying: "This is the policy and there are costs – this is life."[29] Netanyahu's remarks caused a storm in the news and on social media. The head of the National Unity coalition Benny Gantz responded to Netanyahu's remarks, stating: "This is not life", and said that the incident requires lessons to be learned.[30] Netanyahu later called Castleman's father, saying that Yuval's death was a terrible tragedy, and that he was a hero of Israel.[31] He also said an investigation would be conducted and those found responsible would be prosecuted.[32]