Beersheva bus station shooting

On 18 October 2015, a gunman shot and killed 19-year-old Israeli soldier Omri Levy in a bus station in Beersheba. After killing the soldier, he took his automatic rifle and fired into a crowd. When more security officers appeared, the gunman fled, but was killed by security personnel.

Beersheva bus station shooting
Part of the 2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Beersheva bus station shooting is located in the Gaza Strip
Beersheva bus station shooting
The attack site
Native nameהפיגוע בתחנה המרכזית של באר שבע (2015)
LocationBeersheva, Israel
Coordinates31°14′33″N 34°47′48″E
Date18 October 2015 (2015-10-18)
Attack type
Mass shooting
WeaponsPistol, IMI Galil
Deaths3 (soldier, the perpetrator, civilian mistaken for second gunman)
Injured11
PerpetratorMuhand al-Okabi

A 29-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker, Haftom Zarhum was mistaken for a second attacker. He was shot eight times by police and was kicked and beaten by four Israelis as he lay wounded, while bystanders shouted profanities at him.[1][2] Graphic footage of the lynching was filmed by a bystander and spread on social media.[3]

At least eleven people, including Zarhum, who died of his wounds a few hours later, and four police officers, were hospitalized.

The gunman was the first Israeli Bedouin to be involved in an attack against Israelis.[4]

In response to the lynching, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that citizens should not take the law into their own hands.[5]

Attack

The gunman, armed with a knife and a pistol, used the pistol to shoot a police officer, then grabbed the officer's assault rifle and continued shooting wounding several more police officers, soldiers and civilians.[6][7][8] He then attempted to flee but was killed in a shootout with the police.[9]

During the attack, security forces shot Zarhum eight times,[10] mistaking him for a second gunman.[8][11][12][13] Bystanders also mistook him for an attacker and kicked him and shouted abuse at him as he lay wounded.[14] A prison officer who took part in the beating told media that he had seen Zarhum lift his hands towards his head, and attacked him in the belief that he was a terrorist who had not been "neutralized" and that he might have been reaching for a weapon.[15]

At least one of the wounded Israeli soldiers, 19-year-old Daniel Harush, was shot and critically injured by a fellow security officers who mistook him for a terrorist.[16]

At least four of the injured were police officers.[17]

Investigations

Initially, Israeli authorities thought that the attacker had accomplices.[18][19]

Attacker

The gunman was identified by authorities as 21-year-old Muhand al-Okabi (Mohind al-Okbi, Muhannad al-Aqabi), an Israeli from the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev.[7] His mother was an immigrant from Gaza who gained citizenship under the Israeli family reunification law after marrying an Israeli citizen.[7] The New York Times describes the involvement of Israeli Bedouin in terrorism as "unusual".[20]

Initial Palestinian media reports had misidentified the gunman as one Asam al-Araj of Shuafat.[6]

The attacker'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, 20-year-old Omar al-Okabi, allegedly knew that Muhand had acquired a gun and that he had increasingly radical beliefs.[23] He was indicted by the Beersheba Magistrate's Court for failing to prevent his brother from carrying out the attack.[24]

Lax Security

Police investigation of the attack found that the contractor operating the bus station didn't provide adequate security. The company was required to have eleven guards, but only seven were on duty, and the guards failed to properly screen individuals entering the bus station.[25]

Lynching and trial

Authorities detained four Israelis, David Moyal, Evyatar Damari, Yaakov Shamba and Ronen Cohen,[26] who were involved in beating Zarhum.[27][28] According to the footage from the incident, as Zarhum lay helpless on the ground Moyal moved in and dropped a bench on him. Moyal was then drawn away by the crowd that surrounded Zarhum. Two other men moved in and kicked Zarhum hard in the head and upper body. A fourth man then again dropped a bench on Zarhum.[2]

An autopsy determined that Zarhum died of gunshot wounds, not of injuries inflicted by the mob.[27]

The prosecution dismissed the defendants claim of self defense: "the defendants committed serious acts of violence towards the late citizen Haftom Zarhum, who was already shot, wounded and profusely bleeding, from a motive of vengeance and in order to relieve their anger, and not as the defendants claimed from self-defense." In 2018 it offered a plea bargain arrangement with the defendants with downgraded the charge from "causing injury with grave intent" which entails potentially 20 years in prison to "abuse of a helpless person."[1] Moyal and Damari accepted the offer. In July that year Moyal was sentenced to 100 days of community service, 8 months of probation, and ordered to pay NIS 2,000 in compensation.[29][26] and in December Damari was sentenced to four months in prison.

The two others, Yaakov Shamba and Ronen Cohen, took the case to trial. They were tried in the Beersheba District Court for causing injury with grave intent. In July 2020, they were acquitted. The court ruled that their claim that they thought the man was a terrorist was enough to create reasonable doubt for an acquittal.[30]

Early reports said that Zarhum possessed a work visa,[9] but it was later determined that he was an asylum seeker without a residency permit.[31] Despite Zarhum lacking a residency permit, which made his family ineligible for government assistance paid to families of victims of terrorism, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein recommended that the family be given assistance.[31] The Israeli National Insurance Agency, however, rejected Zarhums family's claim for compensation because he entered the country illegally.[2]

Response

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders of sponsoring social media incitement encouraging young Arabs to attack Israelis, and warned Israelis who witness 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."[32][33]

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."[20]

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".[34]

The Palestinian Authority honored the attacker as a "shaheed".[35]

Impact

After the attack, Eritreans in Israel said that the killing of the Eritrean bystander was an example of racism.[36]

Two aspects of the attack led to an extended public conversation; the security personnel seen running away from the active shooter, and the bystanders seen kicking and cursing Zarhum mistaken for a second attacker after he had already been shot. A videotape of Zarhum being beaten while lying on the ground bleeding from gunshot wounds shocked Israelis.[37]

The shooting was the subject of the 2016 documentary film Death in the Terminal, directed by Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudril. The film won prizes at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and the Ophir Awards,[38] as well as Best Film at DocAviv.[39]

See also

References
  1. Ofir, Jonathan (21 July 2020). "Revenge against Palestinians is understandable, Israeli judge says in acquitting two security officers who attacked innocent man". Mondoweiss.
  2. Wootliff, Raoul (21 March 2018). "Man gets community service over lynching of migrant mistaken for terrorist". Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  3. "Israel mob lynches Eritrean after bus station attack".
  4. "Bedouin Israeli indicted for aiding Kiryat Gat terrorist". The Times of Israel. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  5. Dyke, Joe (19 October 2015). "Netanyahu warns against vigilantism after Eritrean killed". Yahoo! News. AFP. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.
  6. "Israeli soldier killed in bus station gun attack". France24. 19 October 2015.
  7. Lappin, Yaakov (19 October 2015). "Israeli Beduin identified as gunman in Beersheba shooting attack, Shin Bet says". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  8. "Israeli killed in Beersheva bus station attack". BBC News. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. Kershner, Isabel (19 October 2015). "Killing of Eritrean Migrant Shakes Israeli Confidence Amid Surge of Violence". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  10. "Eritrean killed in Beersheba ineligible for terror victim status". Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  11. Eglash, Ruth; Booth, William (19 October 2015). "Sunday stabbing and shooting attack in Negev desert leaves two dead". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  12. Lazareva, Inna (18 October 2015). "Israel bus station attack: 'Palestinian gunman' opens fire in Beersheba". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. Goldman, Paul; Factor, Yael; Vinograd, Cassandra (19 October 2015). "Beersheba Attack: Eritrean Mistaken for Terrorist Is Shot, Beaten". NBC News. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  14. Hartman, Ben; Lappin, Yaakov (18 October 2015). "Terrorist kills soldier, wounds several others in attack at Beersheba bus station". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. Boker, Ron (28 October 2015). "Prison officer who took part in lynching in Beer Sheva: 'I'm not sorry'". Ynetnews. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  16. "Soldier injured in Beersheba attack was shot by police". The Times of Israel. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  17. Chandler, Adam (18 October 2014). "A Shooting Attack in Southern Israel". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  18. "Beersheba shooting may not have been 'lone wolf' attack, top defense official says". The Jerusalem Post. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  19. Harel, Amos (19 October 2015). "Be'er Sheva Attack Indicates Calm Is Still Far Away". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  20. Kershner, Isabel (19 October 2015). "Israel Says Bedouin Arab Citizen Carried Out Bus Attack That Killed Soldier". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  21. Ben Zikri, Almog (25 October 2015). "Police: Be'er Sheva Terrorist Was in Contact With Hamas". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  22. "Beersheba terrorist 'believed in the Islamic State'". The Times of Israel. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  23. Ben Zikri, Almog (26 October 2015). "Slain Eritrean Asylum Seeker Was Also Shot by Border Policeman, Police Say". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  24. "Brother of Palestinian prisoner indicted". 27 October 2015.
  25. "Lax security blamed in Beersheba attack". The Times of Israel. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  26. Ben Zikri, Almog (9 March 2018). "Israeli State's Attorney Offers Community Service to Asylum Seeker's Lynchers". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  27. "2 Israel Prisons Service employees face disciplinary hearing in beating of Eritrean man". JTA. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  28. "Israel Prison Service Postpones Decision on Be'er Sheva Lynch Suspect Till Next Week". Haaretz. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  29. Curiel, Ilana (4 July 2018). "Israeli gets lenient sentence after taking part in lynch of Eritrean". Ynetnews.
  30. "Court acquits men who lynched Eritrean migrant they mistook for terrorist". The Times of Israel.
  31. Wootliff, Raoul (28 October 2015). "Weinstein recommends compensation for family of lynch victim". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  32. Jones, Rory (20 October 2015). "Israelis Urged to Show Restraint in Face of Escalating Violence". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  33. Schwartz, Michael; Brumfield, Ben (19 October 2015). "Netanyahu after mob beating: 'No one will take law into his own hands'". CNN. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  34. Lis, Jonathan (4 November 2015). "Israeli Arab Lawmaker: Bedouin Slain After Be'er Sheva Terror Attack Was Innocent". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  35. 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.
  36. Ben Sales (20 October 2015). "African Immigrants Say Killing Reflects Discrimination in Israel". The Forward.
  37. Taylor, Adam (23 October 2015). "In Israel's chaotic violence, cases of mistaken identity can be deadly". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  38. McNary, Dave (10 May 2017). "Megan Ellison-Mark Boal Terrorism Documentary 'Death in the Terminal' Lands at Topic". Variety. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  39. Bogan, Amir (25 May 2016). "הזוכה בדוקאביב: סרט על הלינץ' בבאר שבע". ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 3 May 2019.


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