A police officer shot and killed a suspect during a raid in Tarabin on Saturday night, causing local Bedouin leaders to lay the blame at National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's feet.
The raid occurred as part of an ongoing push by Israeli law enforcement to crack down on various crimes, including illegal immigration and illegal weapon possession.
During this raid, police pursued a suspect named Muhammad Hussein Tarabin, who was believed to have been involved in several recent "Price Tag" incidents. The officers knocked on his door in the middle of the night, and he opened it.
According to the police, when Tarabin opened the door, they felt that their lives were threatened. One of them immediately fired on Tarabin, killing him. According to Tarabin's family, he made no hostile moves and was gunned down without provocation on his part.
Ben-Gvir supports police actions
In the wake of the incident, Ben-Gvir wrote a post supporting the police's actions in Tarabin.
"I back the fighters who operated in Tarabin," he began his post. "Anyone who endangers our police officers and fighters must be neutralized, and it's good that it is so."
"A policy of incitement, a ‘trigger-happy’ approach, and the deployment of forces that are not subordinate to the police led to an incident that ended in murder," went a letter about Ben-Gvir's policies from local Bedouin leaders after the incident. "We demand the minister’s immediate dismissal, the dismantling of the militia he established under the guise of ‘national security,’ an independent and full investigation into the circumstances of the killing, and the prosecution of all those responsible."
"The blood of citizens is not up for grabs,” the letter concluded.
Tarabin's brother, Ahmed, claimed that the officer's actions were inexcusable. "Even if he resisted arrest, they could have used reasonable force, hit him," he stated, "It happened in the house. In front of his kids. It's a nightmare. We don't know what to say to them."
The officer who killed Tarabin was placed under house arrest for five days so an investigation could be conducted.