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Photo:
Scene. Screenshot from video. Published by IMEMC News

Mustafa Younis. Credit: Courtesy of the family. Published by Haaretz

The scene of the stabbing at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, May 13, 2020 Credit: Tomer Appelbaum. Published by Haaretz

The scene of the incident outside the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, May 13, 2020. Credit: MDA. Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
May 16, 2020 11:49 AM

Security guards at a Tel Aviv hospital on Wednesday killed an epileptic Palestinian man in front of his mother. He was killed at the entrance to the hospital where he frequently received treatment for his epilepsy.

Mustafa Younis, from Aara town, was killed by the guards after an argument at the entrance to the hospital. A video shows three security guards shooting Younis, who has his hands up and is standing near the driver’s side of his car.

The attack took place at Sheba hospital in Tel Aviv, where Younis had gone with his mother to seek treatment.

The three security guards all shot at him, with seven bullets hitting him at close range, killing him while his mother looked on, horrified but unable to stop the killing of her son.

Israeli sources claimed that Mustafa tried to stab the guards, but that claim contradicts the video evidence — and there was no evidence presented to back the absurd claim.

“My brother was murdered in cold blood,” said Mahmoud Younis, Mustafa’s younger brother. He went to Israeli Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv at noon today, which refutes the official Israeli account that claimed that the martyr stabbed one of the guards.

The victim’s uncle, Dr. Issam Younis, told reporters with the Palestine News Network, “He used to come to the hospital for treatment every six months, and he had already been there several months ago. For four days, he was preparing for a brain procedure. Apparently a fight broke out between him and one of the hospital guards, who told him to wear a mask. Mustafa responded that the guard himself wasn’t wearing a mask.”

The verbal argument turned lethal in mere seconds, when the guards shot and killed the epileptic man.

A police statement said, “Initial investigations indicated that the young man arrived at the hospital to receive medical treatment, and after the apparent completion of an argument between him and another citizen in the place, he took out his knife and tried to stab him but he did not succeed. When the security personnel arrived, he stabbed one of them and they fired bullets towards him”.

Mustafa’s mother told reporters with Palestine Post 24, “The Israeli police stopped our car and asked my son to get out. He refused, but they pulled him out. When he was pulled out, I also got out, and turned around to see the security guards shooting at him directly from a very close distance.”
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Opinion: Mustafa Went to Tel Aviv for Hospital Tests. He Was Shot Dead

by Sondos Saleh for Haaretz
Published 05.18.20

Wednesday, May 13. Abir and Mustafa Younis from the village of Arara arrived at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer for tests. Abir was accompanying her 26-year-old son, who has epilepsy and mental health problems. According to reports, an internal investigation by the hospital found that during his examination, Mustafa threatened a doctor with a knife.

On the way out of the hospital the two stopped at a shop. The pictures released seem to show that an argument began between Mustafa and another person, and Mustafa pulled out a knife. Abir thrust herself between them, explaining that her son had a mental illness, and calmed things down. Then at the exit from the parking lot, the Younises were blocked: Armed security guards surrounded their car and one of them pulled Mustafa out.

It seems an argument developed between the young man and the guards; again he took out his knife, and injured one of them. Within minutes he was on the ground. Ten shots were fired. The guards shot him in front of his mother. Mustafa, prostrate, was fighting for his life.

Not long afterward, about 1 P.M., a report: A suspected terrorist attack at the hospital entrance. After a few minutes, another report: A terrorist stabbing attack and shooting at the entrance – one person lightly injured from the stabbing; the terrorist was shot and incapacitated. A few minutes later – another report, this time from the police: It is likely that the incident at Tel Hashomer was a criminal act, not a terrorist attack.

The story had come to an end, apparently. With a clear beginning, a middle and an end. In less than an hour the incident, investigation, trial and sentencing took place.

As if in a parallel and disconnected world, the Israeli media – obsessed with the game of thrones of the government – were busy with gossip about the negotiations in the corridors of power. Jobs and split ministries and political parties dominated the headlines and pushed the story of Mustafa Younis’ execution to the bottom of the public agenda.

Sound familiar? Do you remember the execution of Yakub Abu al-Kiyan? Of Yehuda Biadga? Or Solomon Teka?

In the meantime, Arab social media roil in pain and anger. Videos and other images from the field show an excessive and disproportionate use of violence on the part of the hospital security guards. The incident described in Hebrew parlance as a “stabbing incident” is looking more like an execution of a Palestinian Arab citizen.

This was the shooting of a person who – even if he previously constituted a threat and had a knife – no longer represented a threat at the stage where he was caught, shot at some 10 times, and left to bleed on the floor of the parking lot. Then, a “return to routine.”

Since 2000, 57 Arab civilians have been shot to death by police officers. Mustafa Younis was the 58th fatality.

Abir, who accompanied her ill son to the tests at the hospital, from which he would never return, told journalist Furat Nassar: “I said he was ill. Mentally ill. He has epilepsy. I asked for compassion. This is a sick person. And then I heard the shots. They checked his pulse. And that’s it. They treated the security guard. Interrogated him. Three people questioned me. They didn’t let me near my son.

“Why did they shoot him in the chest? Why? Why not in the leg? They wanted to kill him … It’s like I was in some movie. I didn’t see police. I saw a crime,” the mother says.

In the afternoon the next day, Thursday, I drove to console the mourning family, who at the same time had to fight for Mustafa’s good name, for justice in his death – if not in his life. They are hoping to generate noise and headlines so life won’t continue as normal, after the death of their son.

About an hour before Mustafa’s funeral, hundreds gathered in Arara, in Wadi Ara, protesting, shouting and feeling the pain of his killing, which was possible to prevent and should have been stopped.

The light finger on the trigger when it comes to a Palestinian Arab. And the too-light finger on the keyboards of editors, rushing to write headlines that speak on behalf of the establishment, the police and the existing order. The nonviolent protests in Arara were also called “riots.”

The demonstrations, which tried to provide an outlet for the pain, fear and fury, ran into a violent and immediate response. Dozens of armed police officers arrived at the scene, some on horses, ready for battle. Some used violence, yelling, punching and pushing protesters – among them Knesset member Ahmad Tibi (Joint List). The incident ended with dozens in custody; the police continued their arrests into the night.

We lost the Jewish-Hebrew media a long time ago.

I protested alongside Abir. Her cries about how they killed her son in cold blood in front of her eyes were heartbreaking. I joined in her demand to suspend the security guards involved, to conduct an in-depth investigation and to reach full disciplinary-legal justice.

Now, too, days later, the anger, frustration and tears, the bloodshot and puffy eyes from endless crying over the loss of her son – all this remains with me. Also the questions: Until when will our lives be forfeited by soldiers, police officers and security guards? For how long will institutionalized violence allow the murder of our children, our parents, our grandmothers and grandfathers? How long will Jewish society use Arab society as a punching bag?

On Friday, just two days after the death of their son, the family announced that it would honor his wishes and decision to donate his organs, so that his loss would save the lives of others. A humane decision, touching and full of love. Symbolically, that Friday we also marked Nakba Day, commemorating the one in 1948, 72 years ago, as well as the one that still continues here every day.

We are not clinging to the past, we are living it here and now.

Sondos Saleh is a Knesset member from the Joint List.
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Man Fatally Shot While Incapacitated Outside Israeli Hospital After Attempted Stabbing

Mustafa Younis, who suffered from psychiatric condition, was shot several times while being disarmed after lightly wounding security guard during violent confrontation.

by Josh Breiner and Jack Khoury by Haaretz
Published on 05.14.20

A 26-year-old man from the Arab village of Ara in Israel was shot dead on Wednesday while he was disarmed and lying on the ground after stabbing and lightly wounding a security guard at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

The police launched an initial investigation, from which they claim that Mustafa Younis had threatened two people with a knife before stabbing the security guard. The guards then shot him five or six times while he was incapacitated and lying on the ground.

According to sources familiar with the investigation's details, Younis came to the hospital to undergo a psychiatric examination. During the examination, he pulled out a knife and threatened one of the doctors, but did not hurt her. When he left the examination, another man pointed out to him that he was not wearing a face mask, and he pulled out a knife again and threatened him.

The hospital's security department received a report of the incident, and security guards detained Younis as he was in his car about to leave the hospital. He refused to leave his vehicle, and after he was forcibly removed, pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the security guards in the head. As a result, the security guards neutralized him and then shot him.

Younis' uncle, Esam, said his nephew "is a psychiatric patient and has behavioral disorders." Esam added that "he came for counseling before an operation in his head, and also for a psychiatric examination. I don't understand what happened to him and the guard. He is a quiet guy and has no criminal record." Younis's brother added that he did not know why he was shot, and said: "He is a disabled person who has come for treatment."

The Chairman of the Ara Local Council, Moder Younis, who accompanies the grieving family, told Haaretz that the family will require a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of the incident. "To say that it was impossible to control him when you see a few security guards around him doesn't convince anyone, certainly not family members," he said. "It is clear that there are many questions and confusion. The fact that Mustafa is a sick person does not mean that he has to die in this way."

Magen David Adom paramedic Adi Ben Aharon, who treated the injured on the scene, said: "We saw the two injured near the entrance gate for cars, a 30-year-old man suffering from a stab wound, and was lying unconscious nearby. We put the injured guard in an ambulance that evacuated him to the emergency room and performed advanced CPR on the wounded [Younis] who was unconscious, without a pulse and without breath, and was also evacuated to the hospital in critical condition."

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