IDF begins allowing troops to shoot at fleeing rock-throwers

The Israeli military has revised its open-fire policies for the West Bank, officially allowing troops to shoot at Palestinians who had thrown rocks or firebombs at cars, even if the assailants no longer present an immediate threat.The policy change was first reported by Israel’s Kan broadcaster on Sunday night, and was later confirmed to The Times of Israel by a military spokesperson, who said it had been in effect for the past month or so.

While the spokesperson described the change as a corrective to a situation that allowed suspects to evade justice, experts raised questions over the legality of using lethal force against a person who no longer poses a threat.

“A person who is fleeing does not present a threat, and unless you are in an active combat scenario and can deem them a combatant — which is certainly not the case today in [the West Bank] — the use of deadly force is truly irregular and a last resort measure,” said Liron Libman, a former chief military prosecutor who headed the international law department of the Military Advocate General’s Corps.

The military spokesperson said that, even under the new policy regarding what is formally known as a suspect arrest protocol — a multi-step process that begins with calls to halt, moves to verbal threats, then shots fired into the air, and ends with the use of deadly force, the military’s preferred outcome is still an arrest, not shots being fired. He also stressed that this policy refers only to rocks and firebombs that are being thrown at civilians, not those thrown at military personnel during riots. READ MORE