Zain Khalil
29 March 2021•Update: 29 March 2021
JERUSALEM
Israeli police on Monday killed a young Arab man in the city of Haifa over his allegedly stabbing a police officer.
The police claimed in a statement that "it received a report from a woman in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood in Haifa that her son was roaming the street angrily with a knife."
Israeli police, according to the statement, tried to stop Munir Anabtawi, 33, but he stabbed a policeman with a knife, wounding him lightly, prompting the police to shoot him.
But Anabtawi's family denied that their son was carrying a knife, saying that he suffered from psychological disorders and was getting treatment.
"They killed my brother in cold blood, we will not be silent," Munir's sister told Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth, adding: "He was ill and needed treatment, they should stop lying."
"Instead of the police helping us, they killed him. It is failed police that know nothing but to kill those suffering from psychological problems," she said.
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset (parliament), also criticized the Israeli police handling of the incident.
Repeating that Anabtawi suffered from psychological problems and was getting treatment, Tibi tweeted: “He was shot in the back by two policemen and was killed. He could have been controlled without shooting, according to his sister.”
He added: "Once again the names of the dead are highlighted: Mustafa Yunus and Eyad al-Hallaq, may God have mercy on them."
On May 13, 2020, security guards at Sheba Hospital in the Tel HaShomer area, near Tel Aviv, killed Mustafa Yunus, 27, in front of his mother, who was suffering from epilepsy, for him allegedly stabbing a colleague.
That May 30, the police shot al-Hallaq, 32, who suffered from autism, while he was on his way to school in the Old City of Jerusalem.
*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
