On Jan. 24, Israel filed a charge of manslaughter against a student from the Pri HaAretz yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Rehelim. The indictment states that on Oct. 12, 2018, the 16-year-old threw a heavy rock at a car driven by a Palestinian family on Highway 60 between the Rehelim and Tapuah intersections. The rock killed Aisha Rabi, a mother of eight.
The investigation into the incident by the Shin Bet and the Nationalist Crimes Unit of the Israel Police lasted more than three months. At the investigation's launch, leaders of the settler movement deemed it a witch hunt and began one of their own with the backing of members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. They leveled harsh criticism against the Shin Bet and police, with claims that they had employed brutal tactics against the suspects, who were all minors. No means were considered out of bounds, they said, even alleging that the suspects had been prevented from meeting with their attorneys.