Jerusalem stabber motivated by grief, anger over son’s death — report

The Palestinian woman who was shot dead in the Old City on Wednesday as she attempted to stab border guards may have been motivated by grief over her son’s death at the hands of Border Police in September.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the woman as Siham Rateb Nimir, 49, from the East Jerusalem Shuafat Refugee Camp. According to Palestinian media her son was Mustafa Nimir, who was shot dead by Border Police officers in September after an apparent misunderstanding at an East Jerusalem checkpoint.

Video from the scene in the Old City appears to show Nimir attempting to stab a Border Police officer with scissors. She was shot dead by security forces at the scene, near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.

The apparent motivation for the attack was retaliation for her son’s death, a source from the refugee camp told the Ynet news site. The source said that ever since her son was killed, Siham Nimir, mother of 11, remained in deep mourning and was unable to recover.

Siham Nimir only moved to Shuafat Refugee Camp a few years ago and the source said that Wednesday’s attack took place not far from her original home in the Old City of Jerusalem.

There is an ongoing inquiry about the reasons behind her son’s death and whether police acted in accordance with protocol when they shot him.

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Mustafa Nimir was a passenger in a car driven by his cousin Ali Nimir, 25, from Shuafat Refugee Camp. Border Police opened fire on the vehicle, killing Mustafa and wounding Ali in what was initially claimed to be an attempted car ramming attack.

However police later retracted the allegation and instead accused Ali Nimir of driving recklessly, arousing officer’s suspicions and leading them to shoot.

Ali Nimir was indicted for the manslaughter of his cousin and was also charged with driving under the influence, driving without a valid driver’s license, driving without insurance and possession of a controlled substance.

Judge Gabai Richter said at the time that there was “a significant gap” in evidence supporting the police claim that Nimir was responsible for the death. Richter said he approved the remand request by police because of the driving-under-the influence charge and previous traffic violations by Nimir.

Mustafa Nimir had been visiting his family in the refugee camp and had driven out with his cousin to pick up pizza. His fiancee, brother and a friend rode in a car behind them, the fiancee told Channel 10 news.

According to the fiancee, some of the officers’ gunfire also struck their vehicle. She also said police only stopped shooting when she identified herself as Jewish.

The Justice Ministry opened an investigation into the incident, seeking to determine if the police’s use of deadly force was warranted.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.