The mythological Captain R., who was accused of having committed "kill verification" on a 13-year old girl who was killed when she came too near an army installation, was acquitted of all charges today. Thus ends a horrifying saga in which R. was mercilessly attacked as a cold-blooded monster.
It would be nice to say that this was a one-time incident. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Put bluntly, in the court of public opinion in Israel, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent, if then. You are not entitled to any kind of presumption of innocence. Moreover, the papers will never give the kind of attention to your acquittal (buried on the back pages), that they dedicated to spreading every rumor, however unfounded, "proving" your guilt. I still remember the "Strashnov affair" which burst onto the Israeli media scene for a week during Netanyahu's reign, only to fizzle out a year later. Such behavior is a blot on the Israeli media. I have nothing but contempt for those who jettisoned all semblence of human decency in the case of Captain R. and others. May they live to suffer but a fraction of the humiliation and disgrace caused to Captain R by their irresponsible reporting.
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