Police minister calls for probe on why attacker’s body returned to family

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is calling on police to probe why the body of an Arab Israeli killed in an attempted stabbing attack was returned to his family, after hundreds took part in his funeral and hailed him as “martyr.”

“I expect the police to investigate the decision-making processes. In my opinion the police didn’t need to hand over the body until it saw that the conditions it established were met,” Erdan tells Hadashot TV news.

“If [the body] was handed over and this is what happened, the result is that the police failed there.”

He says though that residents off Umm al-Fahm are first and foremost responsible for the “disgrace” of the funeral.

“Time after time there are mass funerals there that praise cursed terrorists,” he says.

Hundreds of people attended Ahmed Muhammad Mahameed’s funeral in Umm al-Fahm early this morning, with participants chanting “in spirit and blood we will redeem you martyr.”

Mahameed, a resident of Umm al-Fahm, was shot to death last week after trying to stab a policeman in the Old City of Jerusalem.