RAMALLAH, March 29, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli police today killed a mentally-disabled Palestinian citizen of Israel in the city of Haifa.

The Arab 48 news website reported the sister of Munir Anabtawi, 33, saying that Munir asked his mother for money, but she hadn’t at that time. So, he went down to the street, behaving angrily. He suffers from mental disorders.

She added that as a result, her mother called the police, asking them to make sure that Anabtawi would not pose a danger to himself and others and be transferred to a hospital.

Police officers arrived at the scene in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood of Haifa, where they opened fire at Anabtawi, critically injuring him in the back.

Israeli media said that Anabtawi was evacuated in critical condition to the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, and declared dead soon after.

It claimed that he attempted to stab the two police officers, wounding one of them, before he was shot and injured.   

“How could the police officers shoot three bullets at the back of a mentally-disabled person instead of arresting him?” asked Anabtawi’s sister.

Member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Ayman Odeh, slammed the killing of Anabtawi as a continuation of Israeli police “aggressive treatment” against Palestinian citizens of Israel and the outcome of the racist policies of the Netanyahu-headed successive Israeli governments.

“Israeli police does not consider Palestinian citizens of Israel equal citizens, but enemies,” he added.

He called for punishing all those who “recklessly and racially deal with the Palestinian blood” and stressed the need that the Anabtawis’ family doctor attend the autopsy of the slain man.

K.F.