Four Israelis were arrested last night for participating in the beating of a 29-year-old Eritrean man, Haptom Zarhum, in the immediate aftermath of the Beersheba Bus Station terror attack Sunday.
Above: Haptom Zarhum
Four Arrested But Not Yet Charged In Beersheba Mob Beating Of Eritrean Man
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Four Israelis were arrested last night for participating in the beating of a 29-year-old Eritrean man, Haptom Zarhum, in the immediate aftermath of the Beersheba Bus Station terror attack Sunday, Ynet reported.
A bedouin security guard allegedly mistook Zarhum for a terrorist because of his skin color and appearance and opened fire on the defenseless man who was fleeing the actual terror attack with many other people.
The guard told police at the scene that he only fired one shot at Zarhum. And autopsy found eight separate bullet wounds. Police – who waiting almost 12 hours before – reluctantly – beginning an investigation and collecting evidence, have not accounted for the extra 7 bullet wounds.
The autopsy, done at Israel’s national forensics institute, purports to prove that Zarhum died from the bullets and not from the subsequent vicious beating he received from a Jewish mob as he law profusely bleeding and completely defenseless on the floor.
The forensics institute, which has previously repeatedly been accused of bias and of cooking the books on autopsy results, made that finding even though the autopsy also reportedly found there were multiple fractures of Zarhum’s face and skull.
While it is possible the people who savagely kicked, stomped and beat Zarhum and slammed a bench down onto his body could still be charged with and convicted of murder or manslaughter, in reality that is unlikely to happen. Police and prosecutors have not even broached the idea of charging the security guard, even though security camera footage clearly shows his shooting of Zarhum was completely unprovoked.
Two of the arrested mob members reportedly work for the Israel Prison Service. Both were released today under restricted conditions after posting bail.
The brother of one of those IPS workers reportedly praised his brother for beating Zarhum.
"My brother is a hero,” he said.
Under Israeli law, any bystander shot by police or others responding to a terror attack are victims of terror and they (or their heirs) are entitled to certain benefits from the state.
But that law excludes people who re not Israeli citizens, do not have legal residency, or who entered the country illegally.
Zarhum came to Israel seeking asylum and was in Beersheba to apply for a residency visa.
Israel does not willingly take in non-Jewish African refugees and asylum seekers and has spent the better part of a decade taking months and sometimes years to process asylum claims. Israel rejects well over 99% of those claims, even though most of the claims examined by independent experts appear to be valid claims by bonafide refugees. Israel’s treatment of African asylum seekers has been strongly criticized by human rights groups – including Israeli human rights groups and activists – and by international agencies, like the UN.
So because Israel mistreats African asylum seekers and denies them basic services and help while holding them in stateless limbo while seeking to illegally expel them, Zarhum had no legal residency papers. And therefore, Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that Zarhum would not be granted the status of terror victim, despite the fact that the pretext for his killing was an act of terror.
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