This article contains graphic images of violence
Amid increasing violence in occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, Israeli forces executed a Palestinian youth in cold blood early on Sunday morning.
Israeli forces have declared that the Old City of Jerusalem will be open only to Jews and foreign tourists for the next 48 hours. No Palestinians except residents will be allowed in.
In a further escalation, Naftali Bennett, the Israeli education minister who openly boasts about how many Arabs he has killed, announced he plans to spend Sunday night’s Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah in the Old City.
Bennett heads the Habeyit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party whose senior member, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, has openly called for genocide of Palestinians.
Execution
Fadi Samir Alloun in an undated image posted onFacebook.
Israeli authorities claimed that 19-year-old Fadi Samir Alloun was killed after a stabbing attack that wounded an Israeli teenager. They presented no evidence connecting Alloun to the alleged stabbing.
But videos posted online show that the youth was executed in cold blood as he was chased by a mob of Israeli Jews baying for his blood.
As the video above begins, voices can be heard in Hebrew shouting – apparently at police – “Shoot him! He’s a terrorist! Shoot him!” and “Don’t wait! Shoot him!”
Alloun can be seen backing away from the mob, along the tracks of the Jerusalem Light Rail.
The lights of a police car can then be seen and the sound of seven gunshots heard. Alloun falls to the ground. At no time in the video was he any threat to anyone.
Wattan TV says the killing occurred in the Musrara area, just outside the walls of the Old City, near the Damascus Gate.
Kill first, ask questions later
A police officer – apparently the shooter – can be seen approaching Alloun. Meanwhile celebratory voices are heard shouting “Yes! Yes! Son of a bitch!” and “Wow!” and “He’s an Arab!”
“Death to the Arabs!” others shout.
A police officer then asks, “Where are the injured?” This suggests that the police shot first and only asked questions afterwards.
It was a cold-blooded execution at the behest of a lynch mob.
This is confirmed by this second video of the same incident published by Alkhaleej Online.
It shows the mob clearly inciting for Alloun to be killed as they chase him. The Palestinian youth is trying to escape.
After police shoot him dead, an officer can be heard asking one of the mob, “Did he stab anyone?”
The Israeli youth answers that Alloun did not. While details about the alleged stabbing – and whether Alloun had anything to do with it – are disputed, what is in no doubt is what is visible in the video: he was shot dead in cold blood when he presented no threat to anyone by police who were answering to a mob.
Beautiful voice
Friends and family told the Quds news site that Alloun was gifted with a beautiful singing voice.
He often gave the call to prayer from the Martrys Mosque in the Jerusalem village of Issawiyeh.
Alloun’s family had long been victims of Israel’s occupation policies in Jerusalem. According to Quds, his mother had been a permit to return to Jerusalem from Jordan, where she had gone after her father died. Israel refused to allow the family to reunite, meaning Fadi and his father lived in Jerusalem, while his mother and brother Muhammad remained in Jordan.
Friends said Alloun was a sensitive and quiet person who never showed anger toward anyone.
Violence
The execution of Alloun comes as Israel escalates its violent attacks on Palestinians in the wake of recent killings of settlers in Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.
On Thursday, two settlers were killed in a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank.
On Saturday, 19-year-old Palestinian Muhannad Halabi fatally stabbed two Israelis in the Old City of Jerusalem. Nehamia Lavi, 41, was a rabbi in the Israeli army and Aaron Benita, 21, was a combat soldier. Lavi lived in occupied East Jerusalem and Bennett in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.
Palestinian and Israeli media have reported a sharp escalation in attacks on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank by Israeli occupation forces and settlers in recent days.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society declared a “state of emergency” on Sunday throughout the West Bank following the upsurge of attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
The society said it had faced 14 attacks against its medical staff and ambulances over the past 72 hours. It told Ma’an News Agency that 96 Palestinians had been injured by Israeli live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and other weapons between Saturday and Sunday evenings.
In Burin village, in the northern West Bank, Palestinians had to defend their homes after Israeli settlers set fire to trees and plants in the village and threw stones and bottles at residents, Ma’an News Agency reported.
Palestinians have attempted to prevent the entry of Israeli occupation forces into the village of Surda, near Ramallah, in order to destroy the Halabi family home.
Soldiers attacked Palestinians attempting to protect the home, with teargas and stun grenades.
According to Israel’s Haaretz they interrogated Halabi’s father and searched and removed the contents of the house in preparation to destroy it.
Summary home destruction is a form of collective punishment, illegal under international law, that Israel only applies to Palestinians.
Hospital kidnapping
Nowhere has been safe. Early Sunday, a group of undercover Israeli agents entered the al-Arabi hospital in Nablus, disguised as Palestinians escorting a patient, and kidnapped another patient, 23-year-old Karam al-Masri, at gunpoint.
Masri, an engineer, had been admitted to the hospital two days earlier, according to Ma’an News Agency.
The Israeli agents also reportedly disabled the hospital’s security cameras.
As I wrote, Friday, violence was certain to escalate as long as Israel’s regime of occupation and colonization remains unchallenged.
Due to the seemingly endless international patience with Israel’s occupation, the situation is certain to deteriorate further.
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