All Cops Are Bastards

According to Palestinian reports, Zahya al-Obeidi, a 66-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, was shot in the head by Israeli police officers during an operation in the Shuafat refugee camp.

Magen David Adom rescue service reported that she was brought to the Shuafat checkpoint with severe injuries and no sign of life, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The police have [allegedly] launched an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

The Israel Police reported that during an operation by Border Police and undercover police officers disguised as Arabs, Israeli forces were attacked and stones and rocks were thrown at them. "As a result," the police said, "an undercover officer was injured in the head by a rock and was taken to the hospital for treatment. In response, the force, sensing their lives were in danger, opened fire at the rioters."

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to the incident saying he gave his "full support to the undercover force that operated in the Shuafat refugee camp, was attacked with stones, and reacted as expected to protect their lives."

Zahya's husband, Kaid Joudah, told Haaretz that she was diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure, and that she usually went up to the roof of their house for some air "She went up to the roof at night and I was sleeping," Joudah said. "After a few minutes, I heard screams and they told me she had been shot. When I saw her, I realized she was no longer alive. I have the bullet and I am a million percent sure that she was shot in cold blood, there is also testimony from the neighbors," he said.

According to him, Zahya was shot for no reason. "There was no throwing of stones or shooting, and there was no self-defense here, [the Israeli police] shot her from a range of 20 meters (66 feet). To Ben-Gvir, I say, do some soul-searching when you support the killing of a 66-year-old woman," he added.

The Israeli Justice Ministry's Police Investigation Department, which investigates police misconduct, has opened an investigation, said Joudah, and Zahya's body was sent to the Abu Kabir Institute for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for an autopsy.

"They can perform an autopsy because there is nothing to hide. My wife was a mother, grandmother, and homemaker who never did anything bad to anyone. She was brutally shot. I will not let up and I demand that that Border Police officer be put on trial."

Last week, in East Jerusalem's A-Tur neighborhood, a police sniper shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian boy and young man. According to the police, the two — Iyass Raʻad Abu Mufreh, 12, and his cousin, Oudai Fadi Abu Jomaa, 21 — were shooting fireworks and throwing Molotov cocktails at the police. However, their family members and several eyewitnesses disputed the police's claim, and said that they were wounded while standing on the street eating pizza and that there was no disturbance. A video clip of the shooting obtained by Haaretz supports the family's version.

On the same day, soldiers shot and killed Moataz Hajalja, 22, in the village of Walja, near Jerusalem, after they claimed he pulled a knife on them and tried to stab them and seize their weapons. Hajalja's family members and other villagers claim that the soldiers shot him even though he didn't pose any danger, and after they beat him and his relatives.