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Man shot, killed while trying to snatch police officer’s weapon in Jerusalem - UPDATED
[IsraelTimes] Police identify suspect as resident of Bedouin community in southern Israel, dismiss reports of disturbances on Temple Mount, as security forces stand on alert for RamadanIsraeli security forces shot and killed a man in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday night after he attempted to take an officer’s weapon. The incident occurred near the flashpoint Temple Mount as security forces were on alert during the sensitive Moslem holy month of Ramadan. Police had stopped the suspect for a check when he attacked one of the officers, grabbed his firearm, and managed to fire off a shot, a police statement said. The officers felt threatened and responded with gunfire, "neutralizing him on the spot," police said. The suspect was a 26-year-old resident of the Bedouin town of Hura in southern Israel. Police officials held a situational assessment after the incident and deployed reinforcements to the area. Police said that, contrary to reports circulating on social media, there were no significant disturbances on the Temple Mount or in the Old City. Some Border Police were involved in minor scuffles, with video showing officers wielding batons and grappling with passersby on what appeared to be an Old City street. The shooting happened near the Chain Gate, an entrance to the Temple Mount holy site. For Paleostinian Moslems, worship at the site’s al-Aqsa mosque — the third-holiest site in Islam — is a central part of the Ramadan festival. Jews revere the same site as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism as the location of the ancient Temples.
The man was named as 26-year-old Mohammed Elasibi, a resident of the Bedouin town of Hura in southern Israel. Police said Elasibi was stopped by officers for questioning when he attacked one of them, grabbed his firearm, and managed to fire off two shots during a struggle. However, witnesses told the Ynet news site that Elasibi, who had reportedly recently completed his medical studies in Romania, did not pose a danger to the officers. “Police officers were treating a woman inappropriately and he intervened and tried to help her — then they shot him. The shooting was completely unnecessary,” an unnamed witness said, noting that Elasibi was unarmed. Witnesses told the Haaretz daily that the man was shot at close range, approximately ten times. The Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department was looking into the incident, and would decide whether it warranted an investigation. Elasibi’s family has called for the release of the video footage of the shooting near the Chain Gate, an entrance to the Temple Mount holy site. “We know that every meter in the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem is recorded and the police are supposed to be equipped with cameras,” Fahad Elasibi told Haaretz, questioning why the footage has not been released. “Mohammed was murdered in cold blood without posing any danger. He is a successful person who studied medicine, and never thought of harming anyone,” relatives said in a statement to Ynet. Police later doubled down on their version of events, and decried the “false reports” about the events, an apparent reference to the statements about the incident by Elasibi’s family and eyewitnesses. Police on Saturday issued statements taken from several of the cops involved. “I was checking the suspect, I asked him where he was from and asked him to leave as the area was closed at that time,” an officer identified only as ‘Mem,’ the first initial of his name, said. “He argued with me and I took him toward the exit. At a certain point the attacker turned to me, grabbed my gun and managed to fire a few bullets toward [Border Police] officers. I managed to take control of him within seconds, to get the weapon out of his hands and I neutralized him along with the second policeman with me.” His partner ‘Yud’ said: “I felt our lives were in real danger. If I hadn’t tackled him, shot him and neutralized him, he would have shot me, my partner and the Border Police cops.” A Border Police officer, ‘Lamed,’ backed up their testimony, saying the suspect “aimed the gun at my head” and that she hid behind a cement pillar as he fired. Another, ‘Mem,’ said “If the policeman hadn’t shot and neutralized him, we wouldn’t be here.”
Border Police deployed 2,300 soldiers in Jerusalem and its surroundings and in the West Bank, the force said in a statement. According to official estimates, over 100,000 people took part in the prayers on the Temple Mount, including some 52,000 Palestinians who entered Israel from the West Bank. Posted by: trailing wife 2023-04-01 |
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