Disturbing new footage appears to show a knife being planted on a Palestinian corpse in an attempt to justify his killing.
The video was filmed in Hebron and released Wednesday. It was filmed during a high-profile incident where an Israeli soldier fatally shot an unarmed and incapacitated Palestinian.
Watch the footage below:
סרטון חדש מאירוע הירי בחברון: בועטים בסכין ומקרבים אותה לגופת המחבל
— חדשות 2 (@Channel2News) June 1, 2016
הקטע המלא >> https://t.co/IezuqAQ2gX pic.twitter.com/qLjHvwLbyu
The 21-year-old Palestinian, Abed Al Fattah Yusri al Sharif, was shot after an alleged stabbing attempt of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.
Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier who shot al-Sharif, is now on trial for manslaughter, but Azaria's attorneys have claimed that he shot al-Sharif because he was afraid al-Sharif would use the knife to stab other people, the Times Of Israel reported.
The footage shows that there wasn't any knife next to the Palestinian martyr Abdulfattah. pic.twitter.com/jD9M98ZLQZ
— MuhammadSmiry | Gaza (@M7madSmiry) June 1, 2016
The new video, which shows someone on the scene kicking a knife across the pavement so that it comes to rest next to al-Sharif’s body in an apparent attempt to manufacture a “self-defense” justification for his killing, would cast serious doubt on those claims.
How to become a hero in Israel:
— Steven Salaita (@stevesalaita) April 23, 2016
1. Approach an injured Palestinian
2. Raise your gun
3. Shoot him dead pic.twitter.com/f0BWeqjRs6
Video of the killing itself went viral in March, igniting a massive controversy in Israel over the apparent extra-judicial slaying. Some have called the killing a war crime; others have hailed Azaria as a hero. Thousands of Israelis rallied in support of the soldier at a concert in Tel Aviv in April.
-Hunter Stuart
