The Police Investigations Unit (PID) on Tuesday, May 5, officially cleared officers of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Kheir Hamdan, a 22-year-old Palestinian-Arab Israeli citizen, last November in Kafr Kanna. Footage of the incident showed Hamdan approaching the police van and tapping on the window repeatedly with what the officers claimed appeared to be “a knife.” One officer then stepped out of the vehicle and shot Hamdan, who was walking away from the car when shot from behind. The fatal shooting sparked a wave of violent protests in the towns of Kafr Kanna, Turan, Shfaram, and Fureidis, with masked rioters burning tires and throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at police.

Ra’uf Hamdan, the father of Kheir Hamdan, murdered by the police in Kafr Kanna (Photo: Sikha Mekomit)

Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, responded to the decision on Tuesday, saying it “gives a green light to the next murder of an Arab citizen by police.” The statement by the legal rights group continued: “Even in this serious case of a killing which was clearly recorded, the investigation unit finds ways to back up a crime committed by police.”

Hamdan’s father, Ra’uf Hamdan, called the decision “contemptible,” telling the NRG news site “We are already working with our attorney Avigdor Feldman to appeal the decision to the state attorney and, if necessary, to the Supreme Court.” The bereaved father added “If it were possible, I would want them to receive the death penalty for what they did to my son.”

Last month, the police were reportedly ready to close the case against the Special Patrol Unit’s officers, but according to a Channel 10 news report, the announcement was withheld until after Israel’s Independence Day celebrations. According to Channel 10, the police officer who pulled the trigger was never questioned under caution and has continued in his job since the shooting. A man who was detained in the back of the police van at the time of the incident backed up the police officers’ claim that they felt their lives were in danger.

Joint List MK and senior legal scholar Dr. Yousef Jabareen (Hadash) called the decision to close the case against the officers who killed Hamdan outrageous and scandalous. “Kheir Hamdan is the victim of institutional and institutionalized racism, and we will not play along,” he said and continued: “As a lawyer and as someone who heard testimonies from the family, I think that the PID has become a tool for concealing the crimes of these racists, not only against Arab citizens, 40 of whom have been killed by police since the year 2000, but also against Ethiopians, Mizrahim, and social activists, who have all experienced police violence.” MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) of the Joint List condemned the closing of the shooting case last month, saying in a statement that this manifested an unacceptable attitude toward Israel’s Arab population. “There is a common denominator in the incidents in Kafr Kanna: A government that continues to exhibit a total lack of empathy for Arab citizens into account.”

Related:

• Massive Protests Break Out in Kafr Kanna after Resident Killed by Police
• Video of  Kheir Hamdan being fatally shot by police