Police shoot dead mentally ill Arab man, say he charged at cops with knife
Police said Monday they shot and killed a 33-year-old Arab man with special needs who they said tried to attack an officer with a knife in central Haifa.
According to the police, Munir Anabtawi was running around with the weapon when his mother called the cops to the scene for help.
“Some officers arrived at the scene, saw him next to his house on the ground floor. He drew a knife and ran after an officer with it, injuring him lightly on his face,” a Haifa Police spokesperson said.
An officer then shot Anabtawi in the back, critically wounding him. He was taken to Rambam Hospital in the city, where he died of his injuries.
מרכז מוסאוא פנה למחלקה לחקירות שוטרים ודרש לפתוח בחקירה מידית של הירי של השוטרים בשכונת ואדי ניסנס בחיפה. מהירי נהרג מוניר ענבתאוי, בן 33 – בתמונה עם אחותו שהדגישה כי אחיה סובל ממחלה נפשית ומהווה סכנה גם לעצמו. pic.twitter.com/08m6F474CK
— Yasser Okbi (@OkbiYasser) March 29, 2021
Anabtawi’s sister Shirin told Channel 13, “I went to my parents’ house, I tried to watch over him, but he went down the street. Fearing for people’s lives and knowing that this is a person with a mental disability, my mother called the police, who came and shot Munir in the back and killed him.”
The family accused police of responsibility for the death, with his mother arguing that officers “lost control.”
“He didn’t have a knife in his hand, he was running away from the cops,” said Shirin, according to the Kan public broadcaster. “Mom asked for him to be taken to get treatment.”
She said the situation did not justify shooting five bullets, three of which hit him, according to a forensic analysis.
According to a police spokesperson, “The officer felt that he was in immediate, life-threatening danger.”
The Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department said it launched an “initial probe” into the shooting.
In security camera footage, Anabtawi can be seen brandishing what looks like a knife and chasing the police officer. The two scuffle as they run down the street, before the officer pulls out his gun and appears to shoot Anabtawi.
פרסום ראשון: תיעוד העימות שהוביל לירי השוטר במוניר ענבתאוי ז”ל בחיפה היום. בסרטון הוא נראה מתעמת עם השוטר כשחפץ הנראה כסכין בידו@N12News pic.twitter.com/mtIHsQVwXZ
— Carmel Libman כרמל ליבמן (@libman_carmel) March 29, 2021
Ayman Odeh, leader of the predominantly- Arab Joint List party said, “The killing of 33-year-old Munir Anabtawi is merely the continuation of the aggressive treatment practiced by the police toward Arab citizens.
“The police see Arab citizens as enemies, not equal citizens,” he added in a statement.
According to the Abraham Initiatives nonprofit, 28 Arabs have been killed violently inside Israel since the beginning of 2021. Six were killed by police, while 22 were killed as a result of criminal activity.
Last year, a similar incident was reported, whereby police shot and killed a 30-year-old mentally ill man named Shirel Habura. The police said Habura attempted to stab a police officer.
Police also shot dead Iyad Halak, an autistic Arab man, last year in the Old City of Jerusalem, affirming that they had mistaken him for a terrorist.