Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally addressed the injustice this week, publicly apologizing to the family of the killed man, Yakub Abu al-Qian. But his presentation outraged many current and former officials, who accused Mr. Netanyahu of cynically exploiting the tragic case as part of his broader campaign to discredit the law enforcement authorities and the judiciary before his corruption trial moves into a critical phase in the coming months. The clash over the killing, in January 2017 in the Bedouin hamlet of Umm al-Hiran, was just the latest in an increasingly ugly showdown between Mr. Netanyahu and the law enforcement agencies, which he claims are trying to topple him. “I express my apology to the al-Qian family, whose head, an Israeli citizen, was killed,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Tuesday. Yesterday, it turned out that he was not a terrorist.”

Source: New York Times September 10, 2020 20:01 UTC