Justice Ministry said to close cases against cops in deadly Umm al-Hiran incident

The Justice Ministry is reportedly preparing to close all its investigations into the shooting death of an Israeli Bedouin man, Yaqoub Mousa Abu Al-Qia’an, on January 18 in the Negev village of Umm al-Hiran.

The ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department says the evidence matches the claims of police officers, according to which they feared they were in the midst of a terror attack when al-Qia’an, who had apparently been shot moments earlier by an officer, accelerated his vehicle into a group of cops, killing 1st Sgt. Erez Levi, 34.

Al-Qia’an was then shot dead by nearby officers.

The incident was initially billed as a “terror ramming attack” by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich, but both were forced to retract the statement when video evidence emerged showing a cop apparently firing in al-Qia’an’s direction before his vehicle accelerated.

Police had arrived in force in Umm al-Hiran on the morning of January 18 to oversee the demolition of homes in the village, which the state was seeking to remove in order to clear the way for a new town critics say is meant exclusively for Jews.