Four people, including an officer in the Israel Prison Authority, have been arrested for taking part in the beating of an Eritrean man who was mistaken for a terrorist in the Beersheva central bus station attack. The man was shot by two policeman and neutralized, and then he was beaten by the angry crowd. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be the gunfire, not the beating. However, police are moving forward with the investigation and hope to have criminal indictments filed against the four.
Israel Prison Authority officer Ronen Cohen was arrested with along with another employee of the service and two others, all seen taken part in the beating of the wounded Eritrean man. The four were released from jail on Thursday 9 Cheshvan with restrictions. Beersheva Magistrate Court Justice Amir Doron leveled criticism made by politicians regarding the arrest of the suspects. “We expect that everyone in society will not be captivated by slogans”.
Mrs. Zahava Cohen, the mother of the officer told the media “This arrest is simply for the media. They are hanging my son out to dry. Gunfire passed over his head and it is entirely possible that he would not be here today”. Shachar Cohen, a brother, hails his brother as a hero. He is outraged over the arrest of the suspects, placing his brother in handcuffs, stating those who ran to assist are now being arrested and this in unacceptable.
Attorney Ido Porat told the media that the state is lowering itself to a new unprecedented act. He questions why the police had to invite the media for the arrests and just what danger the detainees pose to the general public that they are released with restrictions. He insists “The only lynch here is by the media, not my client who deserves a medal”.
Porat adds when he client is videoed kicking and beating the man, he was certain it was a terrorist. “I would like to know what would have happened if the man was indeed a terrorist who had a bomb or a weapon on him. What would we be saying then?”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
There are two obvious thing here:
1) If they would have known that he was not a terrorist they would not have attacked him.
2) If he would have been a terrorist there would not have been any arrests.
This is double standard and will most likely result in horrible repercussions!
not sure. after yesterdays killing of a chareidi security guard which they mistaked for an arab??????????
the guy couldntve looked more jewish. if he was a threat, they couldve shot him in his legs….
This is absurd. Whats about all the other scenes of people hitting terrorists that weve seen over the past month???
Havent seen a thing about that. Suddenly an eritrean man is mistakenly killed and people all of a sudden begin to open their eyes
THE POLICE NEED TO COVER UP THEIR MISTAKE. Once again crooked corruption police system in Israel
Comment #1 says it perfectly.
Stupid Israeli government actions once again. A shining example for the world to see. More like a comedy show for people to watch.
No donepiracy thoeories please. The situqtion is just ailly. Are they sanctioning hitting terrorists? We all saw people hitting “terrorists?” Over the past month yet nothing was done about it. And suddenly it all comes light in this story. When i first saw this article come up i knew straight away the hitting was not major enough to kill the guy.
Its an insult to our intelligence.
Th should stop people forcibly from hitting terrprists not like what ive seen.
Moshe Ya’alon should step down in disgrace and join the PA. He seems more in line with the enemy.
#4, exactly what I was thinking! It was the 2 police officers on the scene that identified him as a terrorist when they killed him with gunfire, not the civilians who came to help neutralize the threat afterwards. Now they’re desperately trying to absolve themselves by pinning it on the non-officers.
#6 aha – Seriously!
#6 aha – I wrote “F7, Seriously!”, but for some reason “F7” didn’t print out. Strange!
Anyways, please spellcheck before uploading.
The ONLY reason these guys are being arrested is because it was caught on video and the “World” saw it! These idiots that post everything online cause So Much Damage!