Palestinian with disabilities shot by guards at Kalandiya crossing

The man, in his 60s, was injured lightly to moderately and received treatment from Magen David Adom medics at the scene. An initial investigation of the incident found that the man seemingly has a hearing and speech impairment. Border Police arrived at the scene and helped transfer him to hospital for medical treatment.

A number of terrorist attacks and attempted terrorist attacks have targeted security guards at the Kalandiya crossing in the past year.

“Security forces don’t always know how to identify the person in front of them and their nuances,” explained Michael Zats – a member of the inter-ministerial committee for improving the treatment of people with disabilities by law enforcement and security forces – to Army Radio on Monday. “There is an accumulation of cases that makes the public space threatening for people with disabilities.”

Members of the Arab Joint List and Meretz condemned the shooting, calling it an example of “the daily violation of the rights of the Palestinians.”

“The cruel shooting of a man with a hearing impairment at the Kalandiya crossing is not an unusual incident,” tweeted Joint List MK Sami Abou Shehadeh in response to the incident. “The Israeli occupation is a well-oiled destruction machine built on the daily violation of the rights of the Palestinians, as a collective and as individuals.”

Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh demanded the “immediate release of the recordings from the security cameras at the Kalandiya checkpoint in which security guards are seen shooting an adult with a hearing impairment, before they disappear into a drawer in which the videos of the murder of Iyad al-Hallak are hidden.”

Hallak, a 32-year-old special-needs student from eastern Jerusalem, was shot by Border Police in the Old City on his way to the Jerusalem’s Elwyn school for children and adults with disabilities. Hallak’s family claims that the police hid security camera footage of the incident.

“The blood of Iyad al-Hallak still hasn’t dried and already they’re shooting at a deaf man claiming that he didn’t stop when they told him to,” tweeted Joint List MK Ofer Cassif on Monday. “It is not a mistake if it happens over and over and this isn’t an accident that those guilty walk around freely. The lightness of the hand on the trigger is not an exceptional case, but a deliberate policy of allowing Palestinian blood, acceptance of murder as a matter of routine.”

Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman also responded to the incident, tweeting “The shooting of a man with an impairment shows again the criminal behavior of the occupation forces against the Palestinians.”

“This shooting proves that there is no discretion, hesitation or thought that perhaps the person can not defend himself,” added Touma-Sliman. “Such cases highlight the crimes of occupation from time to time. But the crimes are committed every day for an hour.”

Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz stated that “checkpoints in the territories have turned into Russian roulette for Palestinians with special needs. The cover-up of Iyad al-Hallek’s death gave the green light to continuing the arbitrary shooting.”

Leon Sverdlov contributed to this report.