Israeli Court Acquits Border Police Officer in Deadly Shooting of Autistic Palestinian

 An Israeli court has acquitted a border police officer of reckless manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an autistic Palestinian man in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City three years ago.

The Jerusalem district court ruled that the officer was acting in self-defence when he shot and killed 32-year-old Eyad al-Hallaq. The court described the incident as a tragic mistake, noting that the officer made a split-second decision in a dangerous situation.

The court said the officer was acting in “good faith” when he fatally shot al-Hallaq, believing him to be an attacker. Al-Hallaq’s family has long criticised Israel’s investigation into the killing. After the decision was handed down, al-Hallaq’s mother, Rana, exited the courtroom crying.

She described her son as “obedient”, and said he was able to understand and interact with those around him, but was “terrified” when four Israeli police officers ran behind him.

Al-Hallaq was fatally shot just inside the Old City’s Lion’s Gate on May 30, 2020, as he was on his way to a special-needs institution he attended. Police, saying they thought he was a Palestinian attacker, pursued him and called for him to stop.

According to accounts at the time, two members of Israel’s paramilitary border police chased him into a rubbish room and shot at him as he cowered next to a bin. In total, police fired four bullets, hitting him twice.

Al-Hallaq’s father, Khairy, said he was shocked by the acquittal and would pursue other legal action. He said: “We spent years in the courts waiting for the decision, but we did not expect this shocking decision.

We will not allow the murderer to be acquitted.” Lawyer Omar Khamaysa agreed, saying the court is a tool of oppression against the Palestinian people and that “there is no justice when the victim is Palestinian and the perpetrator is Jewish”.

A police investigation found the officer had defied instructions to stop shooting and had acted in a “reckless” manner. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called al-Hallaq’s death a “war crime” and an “execution”.

Palestinians and human rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of killing Palestinians under questionable circumstances. They say Israel does a poor job prosecuting and punishing its forces in cases of wrongdoing, and investigations often end with no charges or lenient sentences.

Al-Hallaq had severe autism and the mental age of an eight-year-old, and the Old City is part of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war and annexed to its capital in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The Old City is a frequent site of confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. As the investigation proceeded last year, prosecutors said none of the cameras in the area had worked and there was no footage of the incident.

The justice ministry said the officer had not followed police rules for opening fire and al-Hallaq had “posed no danger to police or civilians at the scene”. The officer was charged in June 2021, but the court ultimately ruled in his favour.

Palestinian leaders want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, but the Israeli judiciary system has demonstrated that “when it comes to the unjustified killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces, the policy is impunity”, according to Dror Sadot, spokeswoman for the Israeli rights group B’tselem.