Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Jewish Man Mistaken for a Terrorist
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Jewish man in Jerusalem that they believed to be a terrorist, echoing a similar case in Beersheba.
Hours earlier on Wednesday, four Jewish-Israeli men were arrested in the assault of an Eritrean man in the wake of a terrorist attack in Beersheba. The Eritrean was attacked after he was shot dead by a security guard who believed he was a terrorist.
The Jewish man was killed late Wednesday night. While on a bus in Jerusalem, he asked Israeli soldiers boarding the bus to show him identification, believing them to be terrorists. The soldiers asked in exchange for his national identification card, according to Israel Police. He began to argue with the soldiers and then tried to grab the gun of one of them. One of the soldiers shot the man, believing him to be a terrorist.
The man reportedly yelled “I am ISIS” as he attempted to grab the soldier’s gun. The bus driver attempted to subdue him with a taser before he was shot, according to the police.
In the Beersheba case, the arrests were made in the assault of Haftom Zarhum, 29, who was shot during the Oct. 18 stabbing attack in the central bus station. While Zarhum was lying in a pool of his own blood, he was kicked and taunted by bystanders who believed he was a terrorist.
The men arrested are not suspected of killing Zarhum; the results of an autopsy showed that he died as a result of the gunfire. On Thursday, they were released on bail.
An Israeli soldier was killed and 10 people were wounded in the Beersheba attack.
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