Jerusalem police kill unarmed Palestinian at Old City gate

Family says dead man had special needs, police say they noticed a 'suspicious object,' that they claim looked like a gun, and told him to stop in his tracks, after which the suspect began to flee

Nina Fuchs , Agencies|05.30.20 | 06:35

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Jerusalem police shot dead an unarmed Palestinian they suspected was carrying a weapon near Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday.
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Police said he was carrying "a suspicious object that looked like a pistol" and ran away when ordered to stop. The police say they chased him on foot and opened fire.
3 View gallery 
Iyad Halak 
(Photo: Courtesy)
A police spokesman did not immediately respond when asked whether the man was in fact carrying a gun.
The family of the young man says he has a mental disability.
The man was later identified as Iyad Halak, 32, a resident of East Jerusalem.   
An initial investigation has been opened into the matter and a report has been filed in the Prosecutor's Office following the shooting.
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Border Police officers near Jerusalem Old City's Lions Gate
(Photo: Israel Police)
Joint List MK Ofer Cassif said following the man's death that "the incident today in Jerusalem can only be defined as murder by police officers."
According to Cassif, Israel's government shares some of the blame for the incident.
"The incitement from the government's corridors has worked as planned and now every Palestinian is a terrorist until proven otherwise. 'Terrorists' are executed even when lying on the ground or running for their lives," he said.
3 View gallery 
Joint List MK Ofer Cassif
The shooting came a day after Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian in the West Bank who they said had tried to ram them with his vehicle. No Israelis were wounded in either incident.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Israel has pressed ahead with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank in line with President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, which strongly favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

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9.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL AND GOD'S PLANET EARTH

FOR EXAMPLE, IN THIS CASE, AT MY OPINION, JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL WERE/ARE/WILL BE A PART OF GOD'S PLANET EARTH. IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED HEAVEN AND EARTH, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE (MOSES). 2020. SJOERD RUURD VAN DER VELDEN/VAN DER VELDEN, SJOERD RUURD/SJOERD RUURD/RUURD SJOERD.

SJOERD VAN DER VELDE| 05.31.20

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8.

The difficult job of fighting to survive

The Jerusalem's Lions and Damascus gates, so as the Gush Etzion Junction, are the deadliest places for Misteret and Tzahal officers on duty, who must decide in milliseconds how to react to random and almost always fatal aggressions against them, because they know very well that only they and no one else are the targets of the Palestinian hunting games. These spots are not for newly arrived officers but for highly experienced ones, but even the coldest cannot always control their nerves and emotions, because no one can teach anybody how to behave in extreme situations. In these critical moments a human being has no time to think and remember, in these moments is the other side of the mind, the greatest and unknown part of ourselves, that takes command. Last January, a two-star Iranian general on radar screens mistaken a passenger plane for a foreign bomber, and ordered to fire two missiles at it to save his people from an impending attack. Until now, no one has accused him of murder, genocide, gross incompetence or plain stupidity.

♀| 05.31.20

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7.

Lions gate area death trap for soldiers very dangerous

RealityCheck| 05.30.20

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