Moshiko Harush, driving behind Yuval Castleman's car, shot dead while shooting terrorists who carried out an attack at the entrance to the city, Jerusalem, November 30, 2023/Shlomi Heller
The IDF responded today (Sunday) to an incident in which Yuval Doron Castleman was accidentally shot dead by IDF fire after neutralizing two terrorists in an attack in Jerusalem on Thursday: "As a norm, IDF soldiers do not fire at those who raise their hands," an internal briefing said. "Yuval acted heroically and was killed. As soon as they realized that a regular combatant and a reserve combatant were involved, the IDF initiated the appeal to the police to involve the MPCID, they were interrogated, their weapons were taken for examination."
The IDF also reported that an investigation had been opened into the suspect who shot and killed Castleman: "A soldier on reserve duty was interrogated preliminarily on the day of the incident. The soldier was not in the unit over the weekend, and arrived today for questioning under warning by the military police. The soldiers' weapons have been taken and transferred for examination."
Yuval Doron Castleman at the scene of the attack in Jerusalem/official website, Haim Goldberg, Flash 90, courtesy of the family
Three people were killed in the attack by the terrorists who began shooting at a hitchhiking station at the entrance to Jerusalem: Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, 73, Livia Dickman, 24, and Hannah Ifergan, 67. Seven others were also injured. A few hours later, it was announced that the number of people killed in the attack had risen to four, and that Yuval Doron Castleman, 38, who helped neutralize the terrorists and was himself wounded, had died of his wounds.
Moshe Castleman, Yuval's father, spoke about his son and the sequence of events that led to his death: "He was a guy with a purpose, took on goals and achieved them, studied at a police boarding school, served in the Border Police near Jerusalem, in the police, and at the same time completed academic degrees. He had a very large circle of friends. He had great determination. His behavior didn't surprise me."
"He got out with a personal weapon in front of terrorists, seconds before they got into the car and continued to the next destination. In his heroic act, he simply stopped it - and then the event was supposed to end. Suddenly he realizes that he is being shot at, he realized that there was a mistake and took all the necessary actions - threw down his weapon, opened his shirt, belt, it makes no sense to think that he is a terrorist because he shot the terrorists a moment before. He risked his life to save others. Even if they suspected him, he threw his weapon aside, everything should have looked different."
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Yuval Castleman's car shot dead while shooting terrorists who carried out an attack at the entrance to the city, Jerusalem, November 30, 2023/Shlomi Heller
Regarding Netanyahu's statement last night at the press conference, during which he said that "this is the policy and there are prices, this is life," Castleman said: "People talk and they have no idea what happened in the incident. That's really not what happened, he doesn't even know the facts. It's very painful, and only makes you think that there's no official investigating the matter."
"If it hadn't been for the documentation, our son would have been killed and no one knows what happened to him at all. They murdered my son, there's no other word. I just try and it breaks my heart to think how my son felt in those seconds, doing what was required and finally realizing that soldiers were shooting him. The action degrades the uniform that the soldier was wearing, whoever owns a weapon should know that he has criminal responsibility. If you shoot at a person like that, you have to be arrested."
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