«Israeli» Group: IOF Covered Up Settler’s «Unjustified» Killing of Palestinian

By Staff, Agencies

An investigation by “Israeli” organization B'tselem reports that “Israeli” Occupation Forces attempted to cover up the killing of a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.

On April 3^rd, as “Israeli” elections were entering their last stretch, “Israeli” social media reported that a settler had shot and killed a Palestinian after he allegedly attempted to stab his daughter while they were in his car.

The settler, Yehoshua Sherman, a member in the United Right-Wing Parties, was on his way to a campaign event when Mohammed al-Fatah, a 23-year-old father of one, allegedly carried out the attack.

“A few meters before Bitot Junction, a ‘terrorist’ jumped at my car and tried to open the door and hurt me and my daughter," claimed Sherman in a video released shortly after the events.

However, according to B'tselem, which interviewed witnesses, al-Fatah was indeed on the road and he picked up stones from the ground and threw them at passing cars sporting “Israeli” plates. When one of them hit a car, Sherman shot at him.

It is unclear whether the shots wounded him, but al-Fatah hid behind a dumpster, and Sherman got out of the car. He was joined by the driver of a passing truck. According to B'tselem, the two men then shot several more times, also lightly injuring a clerk in a nearby store.

No mention was made in the rest of the investigation of al-Fatah's knife, although “Israeli” forces, both conscripted soldiers and civilian militias from the local settler villages, were on the scene minutes later.

Security footage that came out in the media later that day was unclear at best, and was cut in the middle, preventing an accurate depiction of the events.

After talking to local business owners, B'tselem reports that "about eight ‘Israeli’ soldiers" went and collected footage from a store. They filmed the footage on their phones, erased it and left.

“Israeli” security forces often collect local video footage during operations in the West Bank, used for evidence and intelligence gathering.

No attempt was made to infirm the version of events that was put forward by Sherman, with the IOF releasing a statement shortly after.

B'tselem argues that the killing was "unjustified," because al-Fatah did not pose any more threats.

"Moreover, there was clearly no justification whatsoever for the additional shots that Sherman and the truck driver fired at al-Fatah when he was already lying injured on the ground," the report adds.