Hundreds of residents of Umm al-Fahm and the surrounding area demonstrated on Saturday at the entrance to the city, following the killing of Alaa Muhammad Mahamid by a police officer last Thursday.
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Hadash and Joint List participated in protest for killing of a Palestinian by Israeli Border Police
Hadash joins protest for murder of a Palestinian by Israeli police
According to Zo Khadarek, they condemned the "cold-blooded murder" and demanded that the shooter be brought to justice. The demonstrators carried signs in Arabic and Hebrew protesting police violence and chanted slogans accusing the police of harming Arab citizens.
Mahamid, a resident of Umm al-Fahm, was shot and killed by a Border Police officer after a chase that began on Highway 65. However, the police version of the circumstances of the shooting contradicts information received from local sources and the testimony of his family members. The officer who shot and killed the young man was questioned with a warning at the police station – and was released to five days of house arrest, banned from the police station for two weeks and from Umm al-Fahm for 30 days.
The protest took place yesterday at the invitation of the Umm al-Fahm municipality and the city's popular committee, under the slogan "Our blood is not cheap," following an emergency meeting held at the municipality after the young man's death from his wounds, in which a series of protest measures were approved, in addition to a call to organize a public funeral in coordination with his family. Prominent among the demonstrators were Hadash and Joint List candidates Yousef Jabarin, Faten Ghattas, MK Ofer Cassif, Nahaya Shahi, and Ahmed Darwesha, along with the head of the Supreme Monitoring Committee, Jamal Zakhalka, and the mayor of Umm al-Fahm, Samir Mahamid.
Hundreds of people attended Alaa Zat's public funeral today after his body was held by the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir for several days. MK Cassif (Hadash) said at the end of the protest: "We came to the demonstration in Umm al-Fahm to demand justice and an immediate investigation into the heinous murder." "It is true that a police force controlled by a racist minister who loves murder doesn't really need a reason to murder Arabs, but in this case in particular, the crime cries out to the heavens," he emphasized.
(Photo: Zo Khadarek)