Video: “Let him die” say Israelis as Palestinian boy lays bleeding

Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability 10 March 2016

Warning: this article includes video showing very graphic violence.

Graphic video shows a gravely injured Palestinian lying on the floor of a liquor store, apparently struggling to breathe, as Israelis curse him and call for him to die on Tuesday.

“Die, you fucker, die, you son of a whore,” a man not seen in the video says in Hebrew. The wounded Palestinian is also called homophobic epithets.

“Don’t call an ambulance, let him die,” the same man says.

The Palestinian, who died of his injuries, was identified as Abd al-Rahman Radad, 17, from al-Zawiya village near the occupied West Bank town of Salfit.

An Israeli police spokesperson told media that the youth was shot dead by police after he allegedly stabbed and wounded a Jewish Israeli man near Petah Tikva, a city in Israel.

Radad is one of several Palestinians who have been killed in recent days during alleged attacks on Israelis in which an American tourist was slain and several others wounded.

Relations of Ahmad Yousef Amer, 16, mourn during the youth’s funeral in the West Bank village of Masha after he was shot dead by Israeli forces, 9 March.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Another boy was shot dead by Israeli forces on Wednesday at a military checkpoint outside al-Zawiya, which was blockaded by the military late Tuesday after the alleged attack in Petah Tikva.

An army spokesperson told the Ma’an News Agency that an “assailant armed with a knife” approached the checkpoint and Israeli forces “thwarted” the attack by shooting the Palestinian dead. No Israelis were injured during the incident.

“Locals said that Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a second Palestinian during the deadly encounter, although the army spokesperson had no information about a second Palestinian being shot during the incident,” Ma’an reported.

Ma’an was told by a local official that both Palestinians were left bleeding while Palestinian emergency medics were prevented from reaching them.

The fatally wounded Palestinian was identified as 16-year-old Ahmad Yousef Amer from the nearby village of Masha.

In a note reportedly left by Amer, the youth bid farewell to his parents and asks them for forgiveness.

A photo of Amer circulated on social media after his slaying:

Gunmen, bystander shot in Jerusalem

Two more Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli police in Jerusalem on Wednesday after they allegedly opened fire on a bus in Ramot settlement and escaped without causing injuries.

“The shooting sparked a massive manhunt across Jerusalem, with Israeli police later spotting the [gunmen’s] car outside the Old City’s New Gate,” Ma’an reported.

“A gun battle erupted between Israeli police and the two Palestinians, with both gunmen shot dead,” Ma’an added, citing an Israeli police spokesperson. “They were later identified as Abdul-Malak Saleh Abu Kharoub,19, and Muhammad Jamal al-Kalouti, 21.”

An image of the two, showing Abu Kharoub on the left and al-Kalouti on the right, circulated on social media after their deaths:

A Palestinian bystander, 57-year-old Imad Abu Ali, was shot in the head in the crossfire and taken to hospital in critical condition.

“Israeli police were investigating the possibility that Israeli police had shot the bystander,” according to Ma’an.

The Quds news site published a video of the incident showing a man lying on the ground as Israeli forces aim their weapons and gunfire is heard.

Another video from the scene shows a man lying motionless on the ground next to a car with its windows shot out. The man is not provided with first aid as dozens of uniformed Israelis stand by. Israeli police are seen reloading their weapons.

Israeli media reported that “two improvised firearms” were found in the car driven by the slain men and a photo of the weapons was published by Quds.

Another Palestinian was shot and killed near Salah al-Din Street close to Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday after allegedly opening fire at Israeli police, shooting two in the head and causing life-threatening injuries in one and moderate wounds in the other. The alleged assailant, 21-year-old Fuad Abu Rajab from the Issawiyeh neighborhood of East Jerusalem, was reported to have used an automatic weapon.

Video of the scene shows Israeli police tending to a wounded officer who lays in the street as armed forces pursue the alleged attacker and four gunshots are heard:

Israeli forces detained seven Palestinians from Issawiyeh during an overnight raid following the shooting attack.

Police shoot man at crowd’s urging

Also on Tuesday, a Palestinian man identified as Bashar Masalha from al-Hajja village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya was shot dead after allegedly stabbing several people in the coastal city of Jaffa in Israel.

An American tourist, 28-year-old Army veteran Taylor Force, was killed during the attack and nine others suffered serious to moderate wounds.

A video of the scene recorded on a mobile phone apparently shows Masalha “running along a boulevard, lashing out at drivers stuck in traffic,” as reported by The Intercept’s Robert Mackey:

“A second clip, either filmed by the same witness moments later or another bystander with a similar phone, begins with the suspected attacker lying on the ground, apparently subdued, as two officers train their guns on him,” Mackey adds, referring to the video below:
“Give it to him in the head, Bro, give it to him,” a voice is heard saying in Hebrew in the video, according to translator Dena Shunra. Another gunshot is apparently heard.

“Enough! He’s lying down, neutralized, why are you shooting for no reason,” someone is heard saying, and “Don’t shoot him anymore.”

Mackey writes of the video clip: “While the man’s head did appear to move slightly in the video before the final gunshot, and then not after it, in the absence of an autopsy, it is hard to say if the suspect died from that shot, or the earlier barrage.”

The scene is similar to that of the video-recorded slaying of Fadi Alloun, who was shot by police as a crowd demanded the 19-year-old’s death in Jerusalem last October.

Israeli forces blockaded al-Hajja village Tuesday night following the incident.

A video recorded by the Israeli army shows its forces invading Masalha’s family home before dawn on Wednesday.

Women shot dead

A fourth Palestinian was killed on Tuesday. Fifty-year-old Fadwa Ahmad Abu Teir was shot dead by police in Jerusalem’s Old City after allegedly pulling out a knife in what Israel claimed was a stabbing attempt. No Israelis were reported injured.

Abu Teir was a mother of three from the Um Tuba neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Ma’an reported.

A witness told Ma’an that the woman was left bleeding as Israeli forces prevented locals and paramedics from coming to her assistance.

Israeli forces “wasted critical time during which the woman could have been rescued,” Amin Abu Ghazala, a doctor with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, told Ma’an.

Quds published a montage of photos of four Palestinians killed during alleged attacks this week; clockwise from the upper left corner, the image shows Fuad Abu Rajab, Bashar Masalha, Fadwa Abu Teir and Abd al-Rahman Radad:

Another Palestinian woman, Amani Husni Sabatin, a 34-year-old mother of four children aged 14 and under from Husan village near Bethlehem, was shot and killed by Israeli forces after hitting an Israeli soldier with her car at the Gush Etzion settlement junction in the West Bank.

“An Israeli army spokesperson said that after the woman hit the soldier with her car, Israeli forces ‘responded to the imminent threat’ by shooting and killing her,” Ma’an reported.

Israeli forces inspect a car driven by Amani Husni Sabatin, who was shot dead after allegedly ramming her vehicle into an Israeli soldier at the main junction near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank, 4 March.

Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

“The head of Husan’s village council, Hasan Hamamreh, rejected the army’s allegations that she had attempted to carry out an attack, saying her death was an ‘obvious execution,’” Ma’an added.

A photo of Sabatin circulated on social media after her slaying:

Two more Palestinians were killed in the past week.

Labib Khaldoun Anwar Azzam and Muhammad Hisham Ali Zaghlawan, both 17-year-olds from Qaryut village near the West Bank city of Nablus, were shot dead on Wednesday, 2 March, after allegedly attacking a settler as he was leaving his home in the Eli colony.

“The settler was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem with light injuries,” Ma’an reported, adding, “Israeli media reported that he had left his home in military uniform, en route to an Israeli army reserve unit he serves in.”

Palestinians carry the bodies of Labib Khaldoun Anwar Azzam and Muhammad Hisham Ali Zaghlawan during their funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus on 2 March.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

That same day, two Israeli soldiers were stabbed and incurred moderate to light wounds while on guard at Har Bracha, a settlement near Nablus.

“The three attackers managed to escape,” the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported.

“An investigation found that the soldiers were not carrying their weapons and a search of the guard post revealed a backgammon board and candies,” the paper added, noting that “the army appears to be punishing the entire chain of command in the incident.”

Reactions

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process condemned the series of attacks in Jaffa, Petah Tikva and Jerusalem on Tuesday, stating that “There is and can never be any justification for terror.”

US Vice President Joe Biden, who was dining with his family in Jaffa at the time of the slaying of an American citizen on Tuesday, criticized Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning the attacks.

He also stated that the violence must stop, but that “It cannot and will not be done just by physical force.”

Despite Biden’s condemnation of Abbas, an Israeli analyst said on Wednesday that “Security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has improved significantly in recent weeks, and the PA is even making efforts to rein in the incitement on its official media and dissuade young Palestinians from carrying out attacks.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister’s office announced that Israel will complete construction of its massive wall in the Jerusalem area and the southern West Bank in the wake of Tuesday’s attacks.

“Gaps in the separation barrier are used by Palestinians to enter Israel illegally without the proper permits. The assailant behind the Jaffa attack entered Israel illegally, from a West Bank village near Qalqilya,” Haaretz reported.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also said it would “promote expedited legislation aimed at punishing those who transport and house illegals” and “close Palestinian media outlets accused of incitement.”

“Professionals in the defense establishment will decide which Palestinian media will be closed,” according to Haaretz, which added, “Further, it was decided to deny work permits for family members of terrorists.”

Israel has so far been unable to put a stop to the months of attacks which began at the outset of October last year. Nearly 200 Palestinians, including more than 40 children, and 28 Israelis have been killed since then.

Of those Palestinians killed, dozens have been shot dead during or in the vicinity of protests. But most were slain during what Israel says were attacks, mainly waged by individuals acting independently of the command of an armed group, targeting occupation forces at checkpoints and settlements in the West Bank.

In most cases, Palestinians were said to have used knives and cars in alleged attacks, but there has been a rise in the use of improvised firearms in recent weeks.

Human rights groups have condemned Israel’s routine and reflexive use of lethal violence when alleged attackers do not pose an immediate danger to anyone’s life. No Israelis were injured in many of the alleged attacks during which Palestinians were shot and killed.

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Maureen Clare Murphy

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Maureen Clare Murphy is senior editor of The Electronic Intifada.