The funeral today of Sanad al-Harbad, 27, who was shot and killed yesterday by an undercover Israeli police unit in the Israeli Arab town of Rahat in the Naqab desert in the south of Israel, highlighted the anti-Arab policies and attitude of the Israeli government.
Hundreds of people participated in the funeral in Rahat, which today observed a general strike in protest against the killing, with mourners strongly denouncing the killing of al-Harbad, a father of three children, demanding the firing of the chief of police in the southern command and opening an investigation into what they stressed was unjustified shooting and killing of al-Harbad.
“The killing of a person by the Israeli police during an arrest operation demands explanation,” said the head of the local council in Rahat Fayez Abu Seheiban. “There is an urgent need for an in-depth investigation,” he said, bringing into mind the killing in 2015 of another young resident of Rahat without reaching a conclusive reason for the shooting at that time that left Sami al-Jaar dead.
The Higher Steering Committee for the Arabs of the Naqab held the Israeli government responsible for the killing of al-Harbad and demanded the firing of the head of the southern command in the Israeli police.
“The Naqab is facing a campaign of systematic incitement and distortions,” it said. “The crime of shooting al-Harbad by a unit disguised as Bedouins in an old Toyota jeep, leaving him bleeding and preventing ambulances from reaching him for an hour is a crime in itself.”
The committee called for the formation of an independent commission of inquiry to determine the circumstances of the killing of al-Harbad and to prosecute those responsible, stressing that it is unacceptable that the government and police deal with the Arab communities in Israel in a hostile manner.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)