Man shot dead by police during raid in Bedouin town; officer under house arrest

Police shot and killed a man in his home Saturday night in Tarabin al-Sana, during a raid that has been ongoing for days in the Bedouin town.

The police said that 36-year-old Muhammad Hussein Tarabin was a suspect in the torching of cars in nearby Jewish towns and endangered forces during their overnight operation. His family denied both allegations and insisted he had been killed in cold blood.

The Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) launched a probe into the incident, the State Attorney’s Office agency told The Times of Israel.

The officer suspected in the shooting was interrogated on suspicion of shooting unlawfully and was released to five days of house arrest. He was barred from entering police stations for a week, the agency said.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, lauded the shooting.

“Those who endanger our police and fighters must be neutralized,” he said, congratulating the forces responsible.

Tarabin was killed during an operation by a “special unit” in the police alongside the Border Police’s fledgling National Guard force, which was founded during Ben Gvir’s tenure.

The special unit consisted of masked officers in military fatigues, who entered the town at around midnight, according to the cousin of the deceased, Yusuf al-Awadra.

Though Awadra was not at the scene, he spoke to the deceased’s older brother, Ahmad Tarabin, whose home — adjacent to his brother’s — was also raided by around 30 members of law enforcement.

Awadra told The Times of Israel that the fighters entered Ahmad’s home first, put a sack over his head, handcuffed him and took him outside. Officers then knocked on his younger brother’s door and entered the house.

Unable to see, Ahmad heard his younger brother’s wife screaming from inside the house, then the police forces shouting that someone had been injured.

The eldest son of the slain man, Hussein, said in a video statement that his father had gone to open the door and hadn’t said a word to police before one of the officers shot him in the chest.

“I heard someone knock on the door, my dad opened the door, he didn’t talk to them or anything, and they shot him in the chest,” the young boy said. According to him, officers then continued to search the house rather than calling for medical assistance.

The deceased was taken away from the scene in a police car, rather than an ambulance. The body is still held by police, according to the family.

Police said in a statement: “One of the suspects endangered the force that operated in Tarabin [al-Sana] and was shot. His condition is defined as critical.”

Police have not responded to a request for comment on the family’s version of events.

The officer suspected in the fatal shooting said during his interrogation that he and other officers “understood that he meant to attack us with a cold [non-firearm] weapon,” which led him to open fire, i24 News reported.

Contrary to the family’s claim, the officer alleged that he was accompanied by only two other officers to the house, and that Tarabin was alone at the time he was shot.

Police Commissioner Danny Levy expressed support for the officer. During his speech at a handover ceremony for the role of Jerusalem District commander Sunday afternoon, he said that he “strengthens the hands of the fighter who sought to engage during operational activity.”

Bedouin leadership in the town placed blame on Ben Gvir for the shooting.

An umbrella group comprising Bedouin mayors, Knesset lawmakers and civil society groups assigned to the far-right minister “direct responsibility for the killing of an Israeli citizen, a resident of Tarabin [al-Sana].”

“The policy of incitement, being quick on the trigger, and the use of forces not subordinate to the police led to an event that ended in murder,” said the group in a statement.

The Regional Council for Unrecognized Bedouin Villages accused police of “spreading lies” with the claim that Tarabin posed a threat to forces and demanded President Isaac Herzog get involved in the matter.

“We call on the president of Israel to intervene, as well as the leaders of the protests for democracy — only dictatorships extrajudicially execute their citizens, and what starts with Arabs will eventually reach Jews as well,” the organization said in a statement.

The National Guard, which is part of the Border Police gendarmerie force rather than standard police, has been overseeing a raid on Tarabin al-Sana that began last Monday.

Ben Gvir has toured the town numerous times since then, incensing residents.

Ra’am MK Waleed Alhawashleh has accused the minister of spearheading a “campaign of incitement” against Bedouin citizens of Israel and seeking to damage relations between Arabs and Jews in the Negev.

Police cordoned off Tarabin al-Sana with cinderblocks Monday last week and began requiring those who exit and enter the village to show identity cards to security forces in routine checks.

Police claimed the slain man was a suspect in a string of car arson incidents in nearby Jewish locales, which police describe as “price tag” attacks in revenge for operations in the Bedouin town.

It is not immediately clear whether police suspected Tarabin of taking part in the burning of cars in Givot Bar and Mishmar Hanegev two weeks ago, or a more recent arson attack in a gas station parking lot near Lehavim.

Police believe both attacks were carried out by the same gang, but Lehavim’s residents have reportedly cast doubt on suspicions that the gas station incident was nationalistically motivated.