Communist MK Dov Khenin (Hadash – Joint List) has appealed to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to investigate the fatal shooting of a Jaffa resident by police while allegedly fleeing the scene of an ostensible gangland shooting in the city’s port on Saturday, July 29. A gag order was placed on the details of the incident.
Tires set ablaze on Yefet Street in Jaffa to protest the shooting death of 22-year-old Mahdi al-Saadi by police on Saturday, July 29 (Photo: Israel Police)
A family member of the man killed by police, who has been identified by Arab48 as 22-year-old Mahdi al-Saadi from Jaffa, told the news site that al-Saadi was killed “in cold blood” and posed no threat to police when he was shot dead. “They could have shot him in the foot and arrested him,” said the dead man’s relative.
MK Khenin announced he had contacted the attorney general during the night between Saturday and Sunday with a request to probe the incident. “There is a worrying feeling that, when it comes to Arabs, the police are trigger happy,” he said.
Earlier, violence erupted in Jaffa on Saturday night during the funeral of al-Saadi. Hundreds attended the funeral procession for the 22-year-old, during which a Channel 2 crime reporter covering the event was beaten and his camera equipment destroyed as residents blocked the paths of vehicles caught up in the melee. The Channel 2 reporter, Gilad Shalmor, was taken to hospital with slight injuries. According to Channel 2, eight people were arrested at the funeral.
The funeral procession started at the home of the deceased suspect in Jaffa and made its way towards a mosque on Yefet Street, a main road in the city, where worshipers prayed before moving on to the cemetery for burial. The procession became a protest demonstration by the family of the suspect and other residents of Jaffa against the Israel Police. Police officers were deployed to the area but maintained a distance. Earlier on Saturday, protests broke out in the city as young people hurled stones and rolled burning tires at police officers over the shooting incident. Then at least three were detained for questioning, police said.
