Residents of Kafr Kanna protest PM, public security minister visit

Dozens of residents of Kafr Kanna on Monday protested the visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan as the two arrived at the northern town for the inauguration of a police station, the Ynet news site reports.

The protesters shouted: “Erdan, you liar, you killed Abu Al-Qia’an,” and “We will sacrifice our lives for the martyrs.”

Yaqoub Mousa Abu Al-Qia’an, 47, a teacher and father of 12, was shot and killed in January after his car careened into a line of police officers who had come to demolish homes built without permits in the Negev Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran.

Shortly after the incident, which also resulted in the death of 1st Sgt. Erez Levi, 34, from Yavneh, and before the conclusion of an investigation, Erdan and the police asserted that Abu Al-Qia’an was a terrorist inspired by the Islamic State group and that the incident had been a terror attack. An investigation concluded that Abu Al-Qia’an did not intend to hit the officers, but lost control of his vehicle after he was shot in the leg by a police officer at the scene.