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Man beaten by crowd of Israelis for shouting warnings in Arabic during shooting

"It was very scary. They nearly killed me. All I wanted was to warn the people in the area, to keep them safe..."

February 12, 2017 at 11:56 am

A Arab citizen of Israel was violently attacked on Thursday after screaming in Arabic at the scene of a shooting in Petah Tikva in central Israel that left six Israelis injured.

According to Israeli news outlet Ynet, Maed Amar, 35, from Kafr Qasim was attacked by a crowd of Israelis after screaming “Watch out! Take cover,” in Arabic following the sounds of gunshots. He told Ynet that people started attacking him, shouting “there’s another terrorist here!”

A video was released documenting the incident. It shows Amar lying on the pavement injured while Israeli security surrounds him. According to Ynet, the passersby are shouting “Kill him,” to Israeli forces.

Ynet added that Amar had sustained injuries on his head and leg, and was evacuated to the Beilinson Hospital following the incident where doctors reported his condition as being light.

Amar was quoted by Ynet as saying:

It was very scary. They nearly killed me. All I wanted was to warn the people in the area, to keep them safe, but instead of thanking me, that gave me a beating. After my attack, police officers arrived on scene and pushed the assailants away

On Thursday, six were injured in a shooting attack at a market in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva. A 19-year-old Palestinian identified as Sadiq Nasser was detained at the scene for allegedly carrying out the attack.

Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement at the time that the young man was caught and disarmed by locals before being detained by Israeli police, at which time he was unharmed with the firearm still in his hand.

On Friday morning, Israeli forces stormed the Beita and Osarin villages in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus and detained three Palestinians for their alleged connection to the shooting.

Israeli soldiers questioned Nasser’s family members for hours at the time, locals said, adding that forces had detained Nasser’s father on Thursday shortly after the attack. It remained unclear if Nasser’s father was still in Israeli custody.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that forces also “confiscated” the Israeli-entry permits of Nasser’s family members.