Israeli Court Acquits Police Officer Who Killed Autistic Palestinian Man

An Israeli court on Thursday acquitted a police officer charged with manslaughter in the killing of an unarmed Palestinian man with autism in Jerusalem, a case that drew Palestinian outrage and focused attention on the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli police.

The man, Iyad al-Hallaq, 31, was shot and killed by an Israeli police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City in May 2020 while walking to the special-needs school where he was a student. His death immediately drew comparisons to George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer just days earlier.

But the judge called the killing an “honest mistake” because the officer — whose name the courts have barred from publication — mistook Mr. al-Hallaq for an armed terrorist.

Khairi al-Hallaq, the victim’s father, said his family was surprised by the ruling.

“The court basically told the police — do whatever you want to Arabs. You won’t get punished for it,” he said.

Critics say Israeli police are rarely held accountable for allegations of abuse, especially when they involve Palestinians. A report by Israel’s state comptroller in May found that 1.2 percent of complaints against officers in 2021 resulted in criminal indictments.

Israeli prosecutors tasked with handling complaints against the police force say they face significant hurdles to convicting officers, such as a reluctance by fellow officers, often the only witnesses to a police action, to speak to them and judges who give deference to security forces.

Still, right-wing Israeli politicians claim the existing policies have tied the hands of police officers, hampering their ability to fight crime. Israel’s hard-line national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, campaigned on loosening open-fire regulations and protecting security forces from criminal prosecution.

In her ruling on Thursday, Judge Chana Lomp of Jerusalem District Court called Mr. al-Hallaq’s death “the horrific loss of a young man beloved by his family.” But the Israeli police officer who killed Mr. al-Hallaq — a 19-year-old rookie at the time — believed he was acting in self-defense in a tense area that had often seen attacks against Israelis, Judge Lomp wrote.

“He made an honest mistake that an armed terrorist was in front of him, who posed a substantial threat,” she said, adding that the officer had been forced to make a split-second decision on whether to shoot Mr. al-Hallaq.

The officer’s attorney, Efrat Nahmani-Bar, called the ruling “a full exoneration.”

The court’s decision shows that Israeli courts handle cases of alleged abuse against Palestinians “with disdain for the basic value of life,” Aida Touma-Sliman, a Palestinian lawmaker in Israel’s Parliament, wrote on Twitter.

Prominent Israeli politicians expressed sorrow over Mr. al-Hallaq’s death — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a tragedy” — although some said the officer shouldn’t be blamed for the killing.

Still, signs bearing Mr. al-Hallaq’s face became a common sight at anti-government protests, with demonstrators calling for “justice for Iyad.”

State prosecutors indicted the officer who shot Mr. al-Hallaq on reckless manslaughter charges a year later. Mr. al-Hallaq’s family said the charges didn’t go far enough and argued that if Mr. al-Hallaq had been Jewish, his shooter would have been charged with murder.

If he had been convicted, the police officer could have faced up to 12 years in prison.

On the day he was killed, Mr. al-Hallaq had entered the Old City, where he engaged in “behavior that aroused the suspicions” of the police officers, Judge Lomp said. The officers chased him, calling for him to halt, prosecutors said.

The officers cornered Mr. al-Hallaq in a trash storage area, where the officer shot him in his lower body, according to court filings. Mr. al-Hallaq fell to the ground and the officer’s commander ordered a halt to the shooting, prosecutors said. Mr. al-Hallaq’s teacher, who also arrived on the scene, said she shouted in Hebrew that he was disabled and posed no threat.

But after Mr. al-Hallaq made a movement, the officer fired a second time at Mr. al-Hallaq’s upper body, killing him as he lay on the ground, prosecutors said.

The officer’s attorneys successfully argued that the decision to shoot Mr. al-Hallaq was within accepted procedures, as even wounded assailants could still pose a threat, said Ms. Nahmani-Bar.