Beersheva bus station shooting
| Beersheva bus station shooting | |
|---|---|
| Part of Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) | |
| Location | Beersheva, Israel |
| Date | October 18, 2015 |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Weapons | Pistol, IMI Galil |
| Deaths | 3 (soldier, the perpetrator, civilian mistaken for second gunman) |
Non-fatal injuries | 11 |
| Perpetrator | Muhand al-Okabi |
On October 18, 2015 a lone gunman entered the bus station in Beersheba, Israel, and shot and killed a soldier guarding the station. The gunman took the felled soldier's automatic rifle and fired into the crowd. When more security officers appeared, the gunman fled, but was felled by security personnel responding to the incident. A bystander, mistaken for a second terrorist, was shot by police and a repeatedly kicked and beaten as he lay injured him and he died from his injuries. At least eleven people, including a bystander who later died and four police officers, were hospitalized with wounds.
This was the first Bedouin Israeli citizen to be involved in a terror attack against Israelis.[1]
After the attack, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that citizens should not take the law into their own hands.[2]
Attack
The gunman, armed with a knife and a pistol, used the pistol to shoot the police officer, then grabbed the officer's assault rifle and continued shooting wounding several police officers, soldiers and civilians.[3][4][5] He attempted to flee while engaged in the shootout with police in which he was shot and killed.[6]
During the attack, security forces shot and injured Abtum Zarhum (Haftom Zarhum), a migrant who entered the country illegally[7] from Eritrea, after mistaking him for a second gunman.[5][8][9][10] Bystanders, also mistaking him for a terrorist, kicked and shouted abuse at the man as he lay wounded.[11] One of the Israelis who attacked Zarhum later told the press that he had seen Zarhum lift his hands towards his head, and attacked him in the belief that he was a terrorist who had been felled but not neutralized and that he was or might have been reaching for a weapon.[12]
At least one of the wounded Israeli soldiers, Daniel Harush (19), was shot and critically injured by fellow security officers who mistook him for a terrorist.[13]
At least four of the injured were police officers.[14]
Victims
- Omri Levy (19), soldier shot while on duty guarding police station[8]
- Haftom Zarhum, (Haptom Zerhom) (29), bystander shot when security mistook him for a second terrorist. He died of his wounds in hospital within hours of the attack.[15][16] An autopsy determined that Zarhum died of gunshot wounds, not of injuries inflicted by bystanders.[17]
Zarhum was from Eritrea and was said in early reports to have possessed a work visa,[6] although it was later determined that he was in the country as an Illegal immigrant without a legal residency permit.[18] Despite Zarhum's illegal status, which makes his family ineligible for government assistance paid to families of victims of terrorism, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein recommended that the family be given the funds.[18]
Investigations
According to Brig. Gen. Amos Gilad, the investigation is pursuing indications that the terrorist had accomplices.[19][20]
Perpetrator
The gunman was identified by authorities as Muhand al-Okabi (Mohind al-Okbi, Muhannad al-Aqabi,) (21), an Israeli citizen, resident of the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev.[4] His mother was an immigrant from Gaza to Israel who gained citizenship under the Israeli family reunification law after marrying an Israeli citizen.[4] The New York Times describes the involvement of Israeli Bedouin in terrorism as "unusual."[16]
Initial Palestinian media reports had misidentified the gunman as one Asam al-Araj of Shuafat.[3]
The perpetrator's cellphone contained photographs of weapons, Hamas militants, and material related to his plan to attack the bus station.[21] According to co-workers, the perpetrator had expressed confidence that ISIS would soon conquer Israel.[22] The shooter's brother allegedly knew that he had acquired a gun and that he had increasingly radical beliefs.[23]
Lax Security
Police investigation of the attack found a “severe failure” to provide adequate security on the part of the contractor operating the bus station. The company was required to have 11 guards, but only 7 were on duty, and the guards failed to adequately screen individuals entering the bus station.[24]
Attack on bystander mistaken for 2nd terrorist
Authorities detained four Israelis involved in beating Haftom Zarhum (the Eritrean bystander mistaken for an attacking terrorist), after he had been shot and was lying on the floor.[17][25]
Response
- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders of sponsoring social media incitement encouraging young Arabs to murder Israelis, and warned Israelis who witness terror attacks not to take the law into their own hands, "Someone who witnesses an attack needs to leave the scene and allow security and rescue forces to work... We’re a nation of laws. No one may take the law into their hands."[26][27]
- Leaders of the Israeli Bedouin community condemned the attack. The Mayor of Hura, Mohammed Alnabati, stated: “We utterly and unreservedly condemn this despicable act and reject violence of any sort... We condemn this act on behalf of the entire Bedouin society and wish to make clear that you cannot be both a terrorist and a citizen of the country; the two are inherently contradictory.”[16]
- ISIS posted a series of videos praising the shooter, with titles including “Project Behead the Jews,” “Message to the Mujahedin in Jerusalem," and urging Muslims to, "this jihad against the Jews."[22]
- Taleb Abu Arar, Member of Knesset for the United Arab List asserted al-Okbi's "innocence," and demanded that the shooting be investigated "again and again until the truth is uncovered."[28]
- The Palestinian Authority honored the attacker as a “shaheed”.[29]
Impact
After the attack, Eritreans in Israel said that the killing of the Eritrean bystander was an example of racism in Israel.[30]
Two aspects of the attack led to an extended public conversation: the behavior of security personal seen running away from an active shooter, and the behavior of bystanders seen kicking and cursing the man mistaken for a second terrorist after he had been shot and was lying wounded on the ground. Videotape of the Eritrean bystander being beaten while lying on the ground bleeding form a gunshot wound "shocked" Israelis.[31]
See also
References
- ↑ "Bedouin Israeli indicted for aiding Kiryat Gat terrorist". Times of Israel. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
- ↑ "Netanyahu warns against vigilantism after Eritrean killed". Yahoo News. AFP. 19 Oct 2015.
- 1 2 "Israeli soldier killed in bus station gun attack". France24. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Lappin, Yaakov (19 October 2015). "Israeli Beduin identified as gunman in Beersheba shooting attack, Shin Bet says". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- 1 2 "Israeli killed in Beersheva bus station attack". BBC. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- 1 2 Kershner, Isabel (19 October 2015). "Killing of Eritrean Migrant Shakes Israeli Confidence Amid Surge of Violence". New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ "מכיוון שהסתנן לישראל: זרהום לא יוכר כנפגע איבה" (in Hebrew).
- 1 2 Eglash, Ruth (19 October 2015). "Sunday stabbing and shooting attack in Negev desert leaves two dead". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Lazareva, Inna (18 October 2015). "Israel bus station attack: 'Palestinian gunman' opens fire in Beersheba". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ Goldman, Paul (19 October 2015). "Beersheba Attack: Eritrean Mistaken for Terrorist Is Shot, Beaten". NBC News. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Hartman, Ben (18 October 2015). "Terrorist kills soldier, wounds several others in attack at Beersheba bus station". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ Boker, Ron (28 October 2015). "Prison officer who took part in lynching in Beer Sheva: 'I'm not sorry'". Y-Net. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ "Soldier injured in Beersheba attack was shot by police". Times of Israel. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ Chandler, Adam (18 October 2014). "A Shooting Attack in Southern Israel". The Atlantic. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ "Eritrean Dies in Israel Bus Station Attack". Wall Street Journal. AP. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Kershner, Isabel (19 October 2015). "Israel Says Bedouin Arab Citizen Carried Out Bus Attack That Killed Soldier". New York Times. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- 1 2 "2 Israel Prisons Service employees face disciplinary hearing in beating of Eritrean man". JTA. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- 1 2 Wootliff, Raoul (28 October 2015). "Weinstein recommends compensation for family of lynch victim". Times of Israel. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ "Beersheba shooting may not have been 'lone wolf' attack, top defense official says". Jerusalem Post. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Harel, Amos (19 October 2015). "Be'er Sheva Attack Indicates Calm Is Still Far Away". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ↑ Ben Zikri, Almog (25 October 2015). "Police: Be'er Sheva Terrorist Was in Contact With Hamas". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- 1 2 "Beersheba terrorist 'believed in the Islamic State'". Times of Israel. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Ben Zikri, Almog (26 October 2015). "Slain Eritrean Asylum Seeker Was Also Shot by Border Policeman, Police Say". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ "Lax security blamed in Beersheba attack". Times of Israel. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ "Israel Prison Service Postpones Decision on Be'er Sheva Lynch Suspect Till Next Week". Haaretz. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ Jones, Rory (20 October 2015). "Israelis Urged to Show Restraint in Face of Escalating Violence". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ Schwartz, Michael (19 October 2015). "Netanyahu after mob beating: 'No one will take law into his own hands'". CNN. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ↑ Lis, Jonathan (4 November 2015). "Israeli Arab Lawmaker: Bedouin Slain After Be'er Sheva Terror Attack Was Innocent". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ↑ Inbari, Pincus (11 January 2016). "Why the Palestinian Authority Hesitated to Honor Israeli Arab Terrorist as a "Martyr"". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ↑ http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/322996/african-immigrants-decry-killing-as-evidence-of-fragile-life-in-israel/
- ↑ Taylor, Adam (23 October 2015). "In Israel's chaotic violence, cases of mistaken identity can be deadly". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
