Palestinian Who Recorded Killing of Wounded Terrorist Suffers Death Threats, Harassment

Photographer of incident in which an Israeli soldier shot a terrorist last Thursday in Hebron says he's living in fear.

Mar 29, 2016

The IDF soldier who shot the wounded Palestinian terrorist in Hebron being escorted to court on the day after the incident, on March 25, 2016.Credit: Ofer Vaknin

Jack Khoury

Mar 29, 2016

Emad abu-Shamsiyah, the photographer who filmed the shooting by an Israeli soldier of a wounded Palestinian terrorist in Hebron last Thursday, says he has received death threats and suffered harassment since the clip was released.

Abu-Shamsiyah, a resident of Hebron's Tel Rumeida neighborhood who sent the video footage to the B’Tselem human rights organization, told Haaretz on Monday that later on the day of the incident, he received a threatening phone call.

“Someone called me from an unidentified number and spoke to me in Arabic," he said, "but it was clear Arabic is not his native language. He started cursing and threatening me and my children.”

Abu-Shamsiyah added that he received a similar call Sunday night. On Friday, he reported, settlers held a march in which they threw rocks at his house and cursed him.

“Since the incident, we have been harassed as if we are the criminals,” said Abu-Shamsiyah, who noted that an attempt was made in the past to set his house on fire. “We are all living in fear, mostly my wife and children. One of the girls has not left the house for days out of a fear they will attack her.”

Abu-Shamsiyah has filed a complaint with the police, but does not know whether it is being investigated. For now, he said, it seems that his harassers have not been deterred.