Haifa 09/11/14. (Updated 11/11/14) Statements made this week by Prime Minister Netanyahu and other minsters such as Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch against the Arab community have only served to feed the recent tension and violence in the country. Last week Aharonovitch stated that "the fate of a terrorist who harms civilians is death." A few days later Israeli police shot and killed a man while he was retreating from the officers. 

Early morning on November 8th 2014, Kheir al-Din al-Hamdan a 22 year old resident of Kufr Kanna in the north was shot and killed by police officers after attacking the police car. The officers claim their lives were in immediate danger and that they fired a warning shot, but CCTV footage shows that no warning shot was fired which is a break in protocol and that Hamdan was shot while retreating from police.

CCTV video footage can be seen here (Warning graphic images)

A general strike was called by the High Arab Follow up Committee, and large protests across the north and triangle region of the country began on Saturday soon after news of the fatal shooting was known. There have been clashes between police and protestors and more than100 protestors have been arrested as of Monday night. Leaders are trying to keep escalation of violence under control but lack of action from the Justice Department has made this difficult.

The Justice Ministry fell under heavy criticism from organizations such as Mossawa and the High Follow-up Committee, as well as the media, for their lack of action in investigating the killing of Hamdan. Only on Sunday did they send an investigative team to the scene of the crime and are now gathering evidence and testimonies from witnesses. In cases such as this one it is important that an investigation is opened immediately to prevent tampering or loss of evidence. The fact that the Justice Ministry waited 24 hours will likely damage the quality of the investigation and the legal proceedings later on.

Since October 2000 48 Arab citizens have been killed. 35 of those cases involve police officers. In only 3 cases was the officer convicted of a crime and even in those cases they only served 6-14 months in jail.

Mossawa calls on the Israeli Justice Ministry to conduct a swift and thorough investigation in to this killing and to hold the shooters accountable for their actions in a court of law. The Mossawa Center calls for an end to incitement against the Arab community led by the Prime Minister himself, as well as the Minister of the Economy and other extreme racist leaders.