Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein clarified Monday that security forces are prohibited to fire at a terrorist already neutralized – despite the unprecedented Arab terror wave.

Weinstein issued the ruling as a response to a petition sent by the extreme leftist group “Adalah”, following a complaint from the organization on the excessive use of firearms against Palestinian Arab terrorists. 

“Given the large number of terrorist incidents in the recent past and the challenges that Israeli police must deal with these days, we demand strict adherence to the law and the rules of engagement,” Weinstein wrote. 

“Adherence to the relevant provisions and the fundamental principles on which we operate is always important, of course, in peacetime, but particularly during these tense and difficult times such as the present.” 

Weinstein insisted that security forces are only permitted to shoot at terrorists “in order to prevent an immediate danger to human life, when there is a real fear of immediate harm to life or physical integrity of a police officer or others, and there is no other way to prevent that harm.”

He stressed that it is prohibited to shoot after the danger had passed, including if the terrorist is already neutralized and, therefore, cannot continue to harm others. 

“The use of fire after having avoided the danger of bodily integrity or human life is a deviation from the provisions of the law,” he said.