Shaked Kestleman

On November 30, 2023, Yuval Kestleman from Mevaseret Zion was driving to work. He stopped at a red light at the entrance to Jerusalem, when two Palestinian terrorists – on the other side of the highway – began shooting indiscriminately at passersby. As soon as he noticed this, Yuval got out of his car, drew his private – and legally-owned – pistol, warned other civilians to get out of harm’s way, crossed six lanes of traffic and began shooting at the terrorists. He managed to eliminate one of them just as four other Israelis – including two off-duty IDF reservists – also began firing at the attackers.

Realizing that he was in the line of fire, and that he himself might be mistaken for one of the terrorists, Yuval began retreating and dropped his pistol. Nevertheless, he was shot. He fell to the ground, raised his arms up in the air, yelled out that he was an Israeli, opened his jacket to show he wasn’t wearing an explosive device, and even tossed over his wallet, which contained his Israeli ID card. Still, one of the two reservists, Aviad Farija, shot again.

Yuval was taken to the hospital and succumbed to his wounds later that evening, a day before what would have been his 38th birthday.

Though it was initially believed that Yuval – alongside the three other Israeli casualties of the attack – had been killed by the terrorists, video footage of the event soon emerged, showing that it was likely Farija – the reservist – who had fired the fatal bullets. In the hours and days following this tragic sequence of events, the police conducted a flawed investigation, and – according to both Yuval’s family and others with knowledge of the case – later purposefully covered up its negligence. Farija, the shooter, was ultimately arrested, released and – a year later – now awaits trial. As part of the investigation, and as a result of the police’s failure to examine crucial forensic evidence at the time, Yuval’s body had to be exhumed.

In our episode today, Yuval’s brother, Shaked, opens up about the case.