In the hours since video went up of the killing of 18-year-old Fadi Alloun near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem Sunday morning, the footage has shocked people around the world. The young man appears to be hunted by a group of Jews, many religious, who call on police to kill Alloun.
The police do.
Later police said that Alloun had stabbed a Jewish boy. But whatever he did, the video appears to show an execution and no attempt at arrest.
And Alloun’s killing follows by two weeks the “extrajudicial execution” by Israeli forces of 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamoun in occupied Hebron.
Electronic Intifada has posted a translation of the cries from the Jerusalem mob and posted the video under the title, “Israeli Police Kill Fadi Alloun in Cold Blood.” (Video may be restricted for some users)
Ali Abunimah wrote yesterday in a story titled “Video: Death-chanting Israeli mob rejoices as Palestinian teen is executed”:
[V]ideos posted online show that the youth was executed in cold blood as he was chased by a mob of Israeli Jews baying for his blood.
As the video above begins, voices can be heard in Hebrew shouting – apparently at police – “Shoot him! He’s a terrorist! Shoot him!” and “Don’t wait! Shoot him!”…
After police shoot him dead, an officer can be heard asking one of the mob, “Did he stab anyone?”
The Israeli youth answers that Alloun did not. While details about the alleged stabbing – and whether Alloun had anything to do with it – are disputed, what is in no doubt is what is visible in the video: he was shot dead in cold blood when he presented no threat to anyone by police who were answering to a mob.
Al-Jazeera’s report from Issawiya, Alloun’s neighborhood, and from his family, says Alloun was hunted by 70 Israeli “settlers” — East Jerusalem is occupied, bear in mind — and quotes his family saying the killing was in cold blood.
“The Israelis are shameless liars. Alloun never stabbed anybody. He was the one who was attacked while on his way to work in Jerusalem at a bakery,” a family member of Alloun, who declined to provide his name, told Al Jazeera.
A cousin of the slain Palestinian teenager, who also declined to provide his name, said Alloun was targeted by a mob of about 70 Israeli settlers, one of many who have been rampaging through Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, attacking Palestinians and their property. “Even if the Israelis prove that he stabbed a settler, what was he to do when beaten and attacked by a huge mob screaming ‘Kill the Arabs’?”
Al-Jazeera says a London based Arabic publication got more information:
Amjad Idris, Alloun’s nephew, described the last minutes of Alloun’s life to the London-based daily al-Araby al-Jadid, saying he had been chased by a mob of settlers in the Old City before police gunned him down at the Damascus Gate.
“This was a cold-blooded murder,” Idris said. “They could have at least arrested him. They saw he was unarmed and was being hunted down by settlers shouting racist slurs.”
According to Idris, Alloun was detained and interrogated by Israeli police several times but did not have any political affiliations.
Ronnie Barkan on Facebook provided translations of the Hebrew and describes the video as Nazi-like:
the killing, or execution, of 19 y/o Fadi Aloun as captured on video in occupied Jerusalem, October 3rd 2015. even if Fadi was involved in a terror activity (that’s the Israeli claim, I don’t know the facts) he could have easily been apprehended without a single shot, let alone 7 (6 can be heard in the video).
I subtitled this short clip in order for you to get a sense of the prevailing Nazi-like atmosphere.
Mohammed Matter on Facebook offered this interpretation, which is widely shared:
While roaming the streets of Jerusalem and looking for a palestinian to kill, settlers found one.
They attacked him, he tried to protect himself and run away,
the police comes and shoot him 7 times from a 1 meter distance..
Settlers celebrated over his dead body saying , Asshole, we killed an arab
The palestinian dies while the world is watching…
The New York Times offered this very neutral rendering of the video:
Violence struck again around 4 a.m. Sunday when a Palestinian man from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Jewish boy on a road outside the Old City, according to the police. The man, identified as Fadi Alon, 21, was fatally shot by police officers, the third Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in less than two weeks.
A video clip showed Mr. Alon being shot, apparently as he was trying to flee, with Israeli civilians in pursuit and shouting “Shoot him!” as the police arrived.
Yousef Munayyer terms the NYT’s coverage “embarrassing.”
Wow @nytimes this is just embarrassing “Violence struck again” & total, uncritical regurgitation of Israeli narative
Haaretz’s report on the night of violence says: ‘Racist violence has erupted following terrorist attacks in the past, but this time it seems that the Jewish mob which took to the streets was accepted by Jerusalemites with understanding, if not downright approval.”
Haaretz says the mobs began marauding in West Jerusalem near the Old City at midnight, crying “Death to Arabs.” They were responding to recent attacks in the occupied Old City and West Bank.
[G]angs of youths ran amok looking for Arab victims. But Arab workers in central Jerusalem are used to such events, and the vast majority of them fled home before the rioting. Even on the light rail cars, that often serve the Arab population, there were no Arabs. The Jewish youths blocked the rail in the square and “interviewed” passengers to determine their identity.
“Are you an Arab? Are you an Arab?” they called out to a passenger who was probably wise enough to smile without answering.
“Leave him alone. He’s a Jew,” said one of the attackers, and they moved on to look for the next victim.
The mobs later went east toward the Damascus Gate. Haaretz says that Alloun was either jogging in the area, according to his family, or trying to stab settlers, according to police, when he was chased.
Students for Justice in Palestine of Brooklyn College sent out the following alert today:
In light of recent Israeli aggression against Palestinians, including the murder of 17-year old Hadeel Al Hashlamoun, 19-year-old Fadi Alloun, and 19-year old Muhannad Halabi in cold blood, execution style, Palestinians have called for an international “Day of Rage” this Tuesday, October 6th…
In solidarity with Palestinian civil society’s call for an international day of protest, Students for Justice in Palestine will be holding a die-in this Tuesday, October 6th during common hours (12:15pm to 2:15pm) on the sidewalk outside of the West Quad gates on Bedford Ave.
Thanks to Ofer Neiman and Annie Robbins.