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Eritrean dies after Israeli guard shoots him, mob attacks

By AP | Last updated: Oct 21, 2015 - 2:02:35 PM

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An Israeli soldier shoots and kills a Palestinian holding a knife after he alledgedly stabbed another Israeli soldier, seen kneeling, (center), during clashes in Hebron, West Bank Oct. 16. The Palestinian man wearing clothing identifying him as journalist alledgedly stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron before being shot dead by troops, the latest in a month-long spate of attacks. Photo: AP Wide World Photos

JERUSALEM—
An Eritrean migrant shot by an Israeli security guard and then attacked by bystanders who mistook him for an assailant in a deadly bus station attack died of his wounds, hospital officials said.

The mistaken shooting of the migrant seemed to capture the current climate of ratcheted up tensions among Israelis after weeks of seemingly random lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the beating, telling members of his Likud Party that Israel is a “law abiding country.”

Police said that during the Oct. 18 Sunday night attack, carried out by an Arab citizen of Israel, a security guard mistakenly identified the Eritrean man as a second attacker. He shot the migrant, and as he lay on the ground a mob of people cursed him, kicked him and hit him with objects.

Mr. Netanyahu offered condolences to the man’s family, and police say they are reviewing security camera footage to identify and catch the people who beat the man.

“It’s terrible,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon. “It shows you what a terrible situation we are in.”

The daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot left no ambiguity as to why it thought the man was shot. An article in the Oct. 19 edition of the paper was headlined: “Just because of his skin color.”

African migrants frequently complain of racial discrimination in Israel.

Israel’s Interior Ministry identified the man as Haptom Zerhom, an Eritrean in his late 20s.

Dr. Nitza Neuman-Heiman, deputy general director of Soroka Medical Center, told Army Radio that Mr. Zerhom arrived at the hospital in “very serious condition” and died from both gunshot wounds to the abdomen and the injuries sustained during attacks by bystanders.

The attack, at the central bus station in the southern city of Beersheba, was among the bloodiest in a monthlong wave of violence. A 19-year-old Israeli soldier was killed and nine people were wounded when an Arab assailant armed with a gun and knife opened fire. The attacker was shot dead by police.

Israeli news websites posted security camera footage that shows Mr. Zerhom crawling on the floor and a security guard shooting him. Footage also showed a mob of shouting Israelis crowded around the man as he lay in a pool of blood. A bench was rammed at him and he was kicked in the back of the head, as an Israeli officer and a few bystanders tried to protect him.

An Israeli identified only by the first name Dudu told Israeli Army Radio that he regretted participating in the attack on the Eritrean migrant.

Police are seeking to arrest those Israeli civilians who “aggressively beat” and kicked the Eritrean man “while he lay on the floor and posed no threat,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

During a month of violence, nine Israelis and the Eritrean have been killed. Forty-one Arabs—including 20 identified by Israel as attackers—have been killed, with the rest dying in clashes with Israeli troops.

The attacks, carried out seemingly at random by attackers with no known membership to organized militant groups, have unnerved Israel.

Mr. Zerhom was in Beersheba to renew his Israeli visa, said his employer at a plant nursery, Sagi Malachi.

About 34,000 Eritrean migrants are in Israel. They say they are fleeing persecution and conflict and seek refugee status. Israel does not grant them refugee status, but does not deport them to Eritrea in line with international law so as not to endanger their lives. Migrants must renew Israeli visas every month or two, according to migrant activists.

African migrants began pouring into Israel in 2007, with their numbers steadily growing until Israel built a fence along the Egyptian border in 2012. Many Israelis fear the influx threatens the country’s Jewish character, with one right-wing Israeli lawmaker calling migrants a “cancer.”

Israeli police identified the assailant as 21-year-old Mohannad al-Okbi, an Arab citizen of Israel, from the Bedouin town of Hura in southern Israel. Security officers arrested one of  Mr. al-Okbi’s relatives on suspicion that he assisted the attacker, Ms. Samri said.

The violence began in September with clashes between young Palestinian men and Israeli forces at the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem—a hilltop compound revered by both Jews and Muslims. The violence quickly spread to the rest of Jerusalem, across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The clashes were fueled by Palestinian allegations that Israel seeks to change the status quo banning Jewish prayer at the site, allegations Israel denies. (AP)