Israel's police too quick to shoot first, ask questions later

• Author: JPOST EDITORIAL
• Published date: 30 March 2021
• Date: 30 March 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

It turns out that the suspect was not necessarily posing a physical threat to law enforcement, but was mentally unstable or disabled, or unarmed.

The latest incident occurred on Monday in Haifa when police were called to the Anabtau family's home. The parents of Munir Anabtau, 33, whom they labeled mentally disabled, said their son was acting unruly and asked the police to intervene.

When they arrived, according to the police version, Munir attempted to stab one of the officers, and officers opened fire, mortally wounding him. According to a forensics analysis, five bullets were fired, three of which hit Munir.

Anabtau's sister, Shairin, claimed that Munir was not armed.

"We saw the knife on the table," she said. "He put it on the table and got down to wait for me. He was running away from them [the police]."

Regardless of the circumstances, the situation did not justify five bullets being fired, she added.

Monday's incident echoed similar police responses to situations that have involved minorities.

Last year, Border Police shot and killed 32-year-old special-needs student Iyad al-Halak, a resident of Wadi Joz in east Jerusalem, near the Lions' Gate of the Old City after they noticed him holding a "suspicious object" that they said looked like a gun.

When Halak fled the scene, police officers pursued him, shooting at him multiple times and eventually killing him. Halak's social worker reportedly shouted at the officers that he was autistic. The suspicious object was never found.

In October, the Police Investigations Department informed the officer who shot and killed Halak that he would likely be charged with Israel's equivalent of second-degree murder.

In another high-profile incident that shook the country and led to nationwide protests by the Ethiopian community, Ethiopian-Israeli Solomon Tekah was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman in 2019, who claimed that he and his family members were pelted with rocks thrown by a group of teenagers including Tekah. The officer said he drew his weapon and fired at the ground, but that the bullet ricocheted and killed Tekah. It was unclear why he shot in the ground instead of into the air, as is the regulation in attempting to defuse a violent...