Rabbi Menachem Goldstein of the Dvar Yerushalayim yeshiva, where [Simcha ] Hodadtov studied, gathered testimonies about the fatal confrontation. Based on these testimonies and his acquaintance with the deceased, he said, “I assume he was shot after being suspected of being not Jewish. Things unfolded in a crazy manner. I heard from someone who was there that all he had in his hand was a bag of bread.”
Above: Simcha Hodadtov
Ha'aretz reports:
…Rabbi Menachem Goldstein of the Dvar Yerushalayim yeshiva, where [Simcha ] Hodadtov studied, gathered testimonies about the fatal confrontation. Based on these testimonies and his acquaintance with the deceased, he said, “I assume he was shot after being suspected of being not Jewish. Things unfolded in a crazy manner. I heard from someone who was there that all he had in his hand was a bag of bread.”
Goldstein concludes the confrontation should not have ended in a shooting. “My understanding is that in the course of the verbal confrontation with the soldiers the driver got off the bus and used his electric shocker [taser] and only then, while he was on the ground, did they shoot him. I wonder how an exchange of words deteriorated into shooting. We’re all tense but, nevertheless, this raises questions.”…
To my mind, the security camera footage posted above, brief as it is, tends to support Goldstein's view of what happened.
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