Forum Post: Man Killed for Shouting "God is Greatest"
Posted 10 years ago on June 21, 2013, 12:57 p.m. EST by LeoYo
(5909)
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Israeli killed by guard at Jewish holy site in Jerusalem
Reuters
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-killed-guard-jewish-holy-jerusalem-051830299.html
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A security guard shot and killed a Jewish Israeli man on Friday at one of Judaism's holiest sites in Jerusalem, the Western Wall, which was immediately shut to visitors, police said.
The guard opened fire after the man, in an adjacent restroom, was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is greatest", police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Rosenfeld said the guard opened fire with his pistol because he suspected the man was a Palestinian militant. The victim turned out to be an Israeli Jew in his 40s.
"The fact he shouted Allahu Akbar, that seems to be why the security guard drew his weapon and fired a number of shots at him," he said. "We are looking into what (the dead man's)... motives were," Rosenfeld added.
The incident occurred as hundreds gathered for prayer in one of Jerusalem's most sensitive areas. The Western Wall is one of Judaism's holiest sites, where thousands worship each week. The plaza where the wall is located is next to the Temple Mount, revered by Jews as the place where two biblical temples stood, and the site of Islam's third holiest mosque, al-Aqsa.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by John Stonestreet)
A terrible incident. Other then highlighting the level of tension around large gathering places in Jerusalem, what is your point?
Despite the fact that someone was killed by an authority figure over a mere utterance, the article reads as if the real tragedy was a case of mistaken ethnicity.
Yelling "Allahu Akbar" in a public place in Jerusalem is far from a "mere utterance". I find it fair to compare it to yelling "fire" in a crowded theater or yelling "I'm going to kill you" to a political figure at a public gathering.
Yes the authority figure probably made a quick judgement call that is was a Palestinian militant. The key word there is militant. Unfortunate but it's an understandable assumption and given that actual militants don't leave you much time to consider things, the policeman's reaction is understandable too.
Yelling "Allahu Akbar" in a Jerusalem public bathroom isn't fairly comparable to yelling "fire" in a crowded theater or yelling "I'm going to kill you" to anyone, political or not. It is fairly comparable to yelling "Praise Jesus" or chanting "U-S-A!" and in any case, an unarmed person is not expected to have lethal force exercised for yelling "fire" or even "I'm going to kill you" while not engaged in any threatening gestures.
To state that the key word in understanding the assumption is "militant" rather than "Palestinian" is to imply that the same action would have been expected and considered understandable had the officer heard someone in the bathroom shouting "Death to Arabs" and assumed that person to have been an 'Israeli militant'.
Seems pretty disrespectful - to say the least.
Some religious fans seem to have forgotten respect for other living things.
"When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." Genesis - www.atoday.org
What is your point?
How is it anymore disrespectful than yelling anything else in any other public bathroom?
A Jew who yells that Muslim prayer in a rest room may be showing disrespect. If so, he was mortally misunderstood by a doubly moronic rent a cop.
As of yet, we don't know why he was saying "God is Greatest" rather than the whole prayer and probably will never know since he was killed by someone who apparently didn't take a moment to observe if he was armed or engaged in any threatening actions.
Exactly! The shooter knew neither why the victim said it nor whether he posed a threat. Therefore "doubly moronic."
Yes - who is gonna suicide bomb a shithouse? As that is all the cop could have been thinking. Why else shoot someone dead?
Really?
Really.
I hope the bathroom wasnt damaged.