Three months after Eritrean asylum seeker Haftom Zarhum was killed in Beersheba’s bus station by a Bedouin security guard, members of Israel’s security services, and a Jewish mob – all of whom allegedly mistook him for a terrorist – newly-obtained security camera footage shows Zarhum lay critically wounded on the floor and gasping for breath for 18 minutes without being helped by Magen David Adom, Israel’s version of the Red Cross, even though Magen David Adom was at the scene 10 minutes before Zarhum was shot and beaten.
Above: Haftom Zarhum
Shame: Eritrean Asylum Seeker Mistaken For Terrorist And Killed Lay Untreated For 18 Minutes After Security Forces Shot Him, New Video Shows
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Three months after Eritrean asylum seeker Haftom Zarhum was killed in Beersheba’s bus station by a Bedouin security guard, members of Israel’s security services, and a Jewish mob – all of whom allegedly mistook him for a terrorist – security camera footage newly-obtained by Ha’aretz shows Zarhum lay critically wounded on the floor for 18 minutes without being helped by Magen David Adom, Israel’s version of the Red Cross, even though Magen David Adom was at the scene 10 minutes before Zarhum was shot and beaten.
At the conclusion of a terror attack in the bus station on October 18 that killed an IDF soldier and wounded 18 other people, three members of Israel’s security services mistook Zarhum – who was unarmed and unthreatening – for one of the terrorists. Following what amounted to shoot to kill orders from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and from top defense and security agency brass, the security forces shot the unarmed man, firing from a distance outside the terminal, likely because he was dark-skinned and looked foreign.
Zarhum is hit and then is quickly shot again by a Bedouin security guard. Some of those shots hit Zarhum while lying on the floor incapacitated. He is then almost immediately savagely kicked and beaten by a Jewish mob. Nine people can be seen in the video beating Zarhum. To date, only four of them have been indicted.
Zarhum lays on the floor in agony bleeding profusely and struggling to breathe. The Jewish mob, including some soldiers, attacks with. Zarhum is hit with a rifle butt to his head, savage kicks to his body and head, and a chair is thrown at him. An Israel Prison Service officer hits Zarhum repeatedly with a heavy bench. He was also spat on and photographed by onlookers.
Four minutes after he was shot the actual terrorist emerges from a bathroom where he had been hiding and fires more shots, which can be heard by the mob. But the mob does not stop beating Zarhum.
All this time, Magen David Adom does not treat him or bring him to a hospital, in part likely because police and Magen David Adom have made a decision to treat the victims of the attack first before treating the terrorists. But as so often happens in chaotic situations like this, who is and who is not a terrorist isn’t always clear, and the innocent Zarhum suffered in agony.
It took 16 minutes from the time Zarhum was shot for a policeman to actually check Zarhum to see if he had explosives or a weapon. Only after that did Magen David Adom treat Zarhum and evacuate him.
The Israel Prison Service officer who hit Zarhum with a bench was not charged because, despite the video clearly showing the bench being used to hurt Zarhum, state prosecutors chose to accept the Israel Prison Service officer’s clearly false claim he used the bench to keep the mob away from Zarhum.
A policeman is seen kicking Zarhum as he lay under bench slammed on him by the Israel Prison Service officer. An onlooker in a yellow shirt tries to stop him, but the cop pushes the man away, causing the man in the yellow shirt to fall down. The yellow-shirted man gets up and fights off the mob that was trying to smash Zarhum. He was pushed and hit by the mob but refused to back down.
Magen David Adom claims security officials in the bus station thought that Zarhum was the terrorist and prevented Magen David Adom from treating him. As soon as security personnel allowed it to approach Zarhum, Magen David Adom reportedly said, Zarhum was among the first to be evacuated.
Physicians for Human Rights lashed out the political atmosphere that caused the tragedy and at Magen David Adom for its behavior.
“Despite the promise of the director of Magen David Adom that treatment is based on medical considerations alone, without judging the wounded for their actions preceding their injury, the teams on the ground are influenced by the public atmosphere. The statements of irresponsible politicians are eroding medical ethics. We cannot ignore the deterioration in ethics and values, from which the medical community is not immune. We shouldn't think that these are only isolated cases, or that a promise by the directors is enough to prevent its repetition," it told Ha’aretz.
Several prominent Israeli Orthodox rabbis have called on Magen David Adom not to treat downed terrorists and on security forces to shoot to kill. And if the terrorist is downed and disabled but not dead, some of these rabbis have called on security forces or passing civilians to murder them.
An autopsy conducted by the state claims to show that Zarhum was killed only by the security guard's bullets, not by any injuries inflicted by the mob – a claim many observers believe to be false.
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