Top Arab cop resigns after video showed him hopping over stabbing victim

Israel’s top Arab police officer resigned on Monday amid an ongoing investigation into an incident in which he was seen allegedly fleeing the scene of a deadly stabbing two years ago.

Maj. Gen. Jamal Hakrush, a deputy commissioner who headed a unit tasked with fighting crime in the Arab Israeli community, met with Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Sunday to inform of his intention to resign.

Shabtai accepted his request and thanked him for his service.

Following his resignation, Public Security Minister Omer Barlev also thanked Hakrush for his 44 years of service, adding that he “has many achievements that nothing can erase.”

Barlev said that Hakrush’s resignation in the wake of the incident was “appropriate” and that the special panel tasked with investigating it would continue its work.

In a statement on his resignation, Hakrosh defended his record, saying he had no regrets and that “the one-sided treatment of this incident over the past week could damage the larger cause [of Arab Israeli integration in the police].”

Haaretz published video footage last week that showed Hakrush 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.

Hakrush, who was off-duty that day, has insisted that he acted correctly, telling the Kan public broadcaster 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.

But another video published by Haaretz last week 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 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.

Haaretz also published bodycam footage captured by police officers who later arrived at the crime scene to detain the stabber, showing them reacting with confusion after being informed that Hakrush had been there but left.

Hakrush is seen returning to the scene about 10 minutes later, after police have detained the attacker, Ghazi’s uncle Fadi Amara, who had locked himself inside the kitchen following the stabbing.

Following the publication of the footage, Shabtai ordered an independent probe of the matter.

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. Barlev instructed Shabtai to ensure that the probe looks into those allegations as well.

Senior police officials were quoted as saying that they were shocked by the report, with some insisting that Hakrush could not continue to serve in the police in light of it.