On 13 January 2007, an Israeli farmer named Shai Dromi (born 1959, ) shot and killed Khaled el-Atrash, an
Israeli Arab
The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
, after the latter entered his farm without permission.
Background
On 15 July 2009, he was acquitted of
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
by an Israeli court, but convicted on charges of illegal possession of weapons. The rifle he had used belonged to his father and was not registered in Dromi's name.
Dromi's farm is near
Meitar in southern
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, an area plagued by property theft. In the months leading up to the incident, several other dogs had been killed and a tractor and horse stolen.
Dromi testified at his trial:
When police arrived, Dromi was administering
first aid
First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...
to the intruder, a
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
, Khaled el-Atrash, who later died. Dromi was arrested and imprisoned for a month and later restrained from returning to his farm afterwards requiring volunteers to continue its maintenance.
A public uproar drew much attention to Dromi's plight and a law was proposed by
Member of Knesset Israel Katz
Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...
and later passed by a large majority in the Knesset. The law, commonly known as the 'Dromi Law', considers opposition to intruders as self-defence and modified the criminal law to allow repelling intruders from a house or agricultural facility if they had a criminal intent.
Section 99 defined any criminal intrusion into a house as life-threatening, and classified that one does not need to retreat but section 98 defined that the law does not apply if one caused the intruders to enter the house.
See also
*
Castle doctrine
A castle doctrine, also known as a castle law or a defense of habitation law, is a legal doctrine that designates a person's abode or any legally occupied place (for example, an automobile or a home) as a place in which that person has protection ...
*
Death of Yoshihiro Hattori
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dromi, Shai
Self-defense
Deaths by firearm in Israel
People acquitted of manslaughter
2007 in Israel
People convicted of illegal possession of weapons