Nidal Aghbariya, an Arab journalist who ran the Bldtna news site, was shot to death in his car in Umm el-Fahm on Sunday night.
A video reportedly from the scene and posted on Bldtna showed journalist Hassan Shalan shouting at the police, “You should be ashamed of yourselves, because you do not want to work. You come to the crime scene and take pictures without doing anything.”
Organizations express outrage at murder of journalist
The Union of Journalists in Israel said it was “shaken” by the murder and expressed condolences to Aghbariya’s family.
“Israel Police must act immediately to locate the murderers and bring them to justice, and act more vigorously in order to eradicate the epidemic of violence in Arab society,” said the union.
The Hadash Party also responded to the murder on Sunday night, stating, “The police had known for a year that the criminal organizations had marked Nidal Aghbariya’s house. A year ago, his house was shot up when he and his family were at home, but the police did not act to arrest the criminals.
“Nidal was murdered today due to the incompetence of Israel Police,” added Hadash. “The murder of a journalist is an attempt to silence the voice of the Arab protest against violence and crime. The Israel Police must put an end to the neglect of Arab society, take the weapons off the streets and bring the vile murderers to justice.”
The Mossawa Center expressed outrage at the murder, stressing that Aghbariya had been shot at before “and the police were silent.”
“Tonight, they killed him so that every Arab journalist would know that he had better not deal with crime and corruption,” said the center. “It is unfortunate that the Arab journalists were left alone. On the one hand, they suffer from the violence of the police, and on the other hand, from the violence of the criminal organizations.”
The Umm el-Fahm Municipality eulogized Aghbariya, saying, “The late, the slain and the deceased media figure... was known for nothing but goodness, honesty, good morals, a generous and religious person, loved by all who knew him, a great loss for Umm el-Fahm.”
The municipality condemned the murder and called on the police to take action.