Report: When cop falsely said he stayed at murder scene, police didn’t probe further
Then-police chief Motti Cohen said to tell inquiry panel he spoke with Jamal Hakursh after the incident under scrutiny, took him at his word
A former Israel Police commissioner has said that he did not investigate a top officer who allegedly fled the scene of a deadly stabbing in 2020, according to the Haaretz new site.
Maj. Gen. Jamal Hakrush, a deputy commissioner who headed a unit tasked with fighting crime in the Arab Israeli community, resigned last week after Haaretz published video footage last month that showed him rushing away from the scene of a stabbing in Kafr Kanna in September 2020 and stumbling over the victim, who was lying fatally wounded in a stairwell.
Testifying to a newly set up commission tasked with investigating the incident that occurred two years ago, Motti Cohen, who was acting commissioner during the time of the incident, said that Hakrush told him he had secured the site and waited for additional officers to arrive, according to unnamed sources quoted by Haaretz.
Hakrush, who was off-duty that day, has insisted that he acted correctly, telling Kan news last week that he had left the building in order to “secure the location” and to preserve the crime scene as “sterile.” Hakrush said that, as a police officer, his primary concern was to ensure that the criminal behavior did not continue and to detain the suspect while summoning backup.
This version, however, contradicts another video published by Haaretz that appeared to show Hakrush’s vehicle exiting the scene of the crime exactly one minute after he was seen leaving the building — before the attacker was arrested or the wounded man taken to the hospital, where he was later declared dead.
The footage, from September 12, 2020, shows Hakrush’s vehicle exiting the parking lot as other people carry the wounded man, Ghazi Amara, to a car to take him to the hospital.
The panel probing the incident, headed by Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Aharon Aksel, is said to have concluded that a report on Hakrush’s actions was provided to Cohen as expected, and no attempt was made to cover up the incident.
According to the panel’s findings, which were submitted on Tuesday to Public Security Minister Omer Barlev and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, then-commander of the police’s Northern District, Shimon Lavi, sent a report on Hakrush’s conduct to Cohen’s office, along with the video. Cohen told investigators that he did not remember if he watched the video.
According to reports, senior police officers knew about the security camera footage, yet no action was taken regarding the incident until it was reported in the media recently. Barlev instructed Shabtai to ensure that the probe look into those allegations as well.
According to Haaretz, Cohen said that after being handed the report, he spoke with Hakrush and received his version of the events, in which the latter claimed he did not leave the scene of the murder.
This contradicts claims made by Hakrush to the media following the report. Speaking with Channel 12 news, he denied ever speaking about the incident with his police commanders.
The committee was scheduled to speak to Hakrush and hear his version of the events, but after he announced his retirement, it was instructed not to do so, according to Haaretz. It did, however, speak with various witnesses to the events.
