Israeli reservist accused of fatally shooting hero Jewish countryman during terror attack is being investigated

The Israeli reservist soldier who allegedly shot and killed a hero Jewish countryman intervening in a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem last week is being investigated and has had his weapons confiscated, officials say.

Israeli civilian Yuval Doron Castleman, 37, is believed to have been fatally shot by the Israel Defense Forces reservist just moments after Castleman opened fire and successfully intervened in a terror attack at a bus stop Thursday morning, Israeli police said.

Before Castleman had intervened at the bus stop, two Hamas gunmen – identified by the Shin Bet agency as brothers Murad Nemer, 38, and Ibrahim Nemer, 30 – had fatally shot three israeli civilians, including a 24-year-old pregnant woman and a rabbinical judge.

Castleman spotted the gunmen at the bus stop and pulled over to help the victims on his way to work.

He immediately threw his weapon down, put his hands in the air and called out in Hebrew, “Don’t shoot!” when IDF soldiers arrived at the scene, security footage revealed.

But one of the off-duty reservists — a member of a ragtag group of radical Jewish teens known to attack Palestinians in the area — is accused of shooting him anyway.

Castleman died just before midnight, a few moments short of his 38th birthday.

“The findings of the investigation so far indicate that during the attack, one of the IDF soldiers identified and mistakenly suspected the late Yuval [Doron Castleman], who acted bravely and courageously to neutralize the terrorists, to be a third terrorist,” police said of the incident after Castleman’s death.

On Sunday, the IDF confirmed that the suspect in Castleman’s shooting – who was identified by Israel’s Channel 14 TV as reservist Aviad Frija, according to ABC News – is under investigation.

“The IDF expresses sorrow for the death of the late Yuval Doron Castleman who acted with courage and heroism and engaged and eliminated terrorists in the attack in Jerusalem,” the military said, according to the Times of Israel.

“A soldier in reserve service who is suspected of having carried out the shooting that caused the death of the late Yuval underwent an initial interrogation on the day of the incident. The soldier was not in [his] unit over the weekend and arrived today for questioning under caution by the Military Police’s Investigatory Unit,” the IDF said.

A second soldier who was involved in the incident is also being questioned, the IDF said.

“The soldiers’ weapons were taken and are being transferred for inspection,” the forces added.

Castleman of Jerusalem used his own gun to confront the two terrorists, said his father, according to ABC News.

Frija, for his part, told Channel 14 TV that he was active in the so-called “hilltop youth,” or a squadron of radical Jewish teens who squat on hilltops in the occupied West Bank. 

The ragtag gangs have been known to attack Palestinians in the area, ABC News noted.

The “hilltop youth” are also politically aligned with Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir – a far-right, bombastic and controversial figure who used Thursday’s incident to argue for his drive to increase the number of gun-carrying Israeli civilians, the outlet reported.

When asked about the shooting Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also seemed to brush concerns over Castleman’s killing aside.

“The presence of armed civilians many times saved the day and prevented a bigger disaster,” he told reporters. “It could be that we will pay a price for it. That’s life.”

Netanyahu’s political rival, Benny Gantz, criticized the prime minister’s take on social media.

“That’s not ‘life,’ but a warning sign,” Gantz – who served as the alternate prime minister of Israel for a brief stint in 2020 through 2021 – wrote on X.

Castleman’s family is demanding answers for his death, which they referred to as an “execution,” the Times of Israel reported.

“No one has yet spoken to us officially. We want to know exactly what happened. In the footage, you can see that he charges at the terrorists and neutralizes them, and suddenly they shoot him,” his father, Moshe, told Channel 13, the outlet said.

“They didn’t read the situation correctly,” he said of the Israeli soldiers. “Right now, I can’t be judgmental: What would I have done in that situation? But I want them to thoroughly investigate this and draw conclusions from the incident.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu appeared to have revised his stance on Castleman’s killing, saying in a new statement that the 37-year-old was a “hero of Israel.

“Yuval saved many lives in an act of supreme heroism, but unfortunately a terrible tragedy happened there – the man who saved them was himself killed. This matter must be thoroughly investigated,” Netanyahu wrote.

“Today I spoke with Moshe, Yuval’s father. The salt of the earth, a Zionist family, a wonderful family. I and the entire nation mourn with them over the death of a hero of Israel,” he said.

With Post wires