From Floyd to Ilyad, "two countries, one system": anger over the death of a young Palestinian

Text by: Alice Froussard

Autistic, Iyad Hallak passed almost every day under the gaze of the Israeli police the "door of the Lions" to go to his school in the Old City of Jerusalem. But on Saturday May 30, he was killed by the police and the Palestinians have not given up since. Indignation also affects Israeli society.

Publicity

from our correspondent in Ramallah,

It was a week ago. An Israeli police statement reports that a suspect has just been "neutralized" in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Lions Gate. This term is often used. Except that this time, the suspect in question was none other than a 32 year old Palestinian, unarmed, suffering from autism.
The police thought he was planning an attack. They thought they had seen a pistol, asked him for his weapon: he did not have one. It was just his phone.

On his way to a specialized facility, he was shot twice. The Old City was immediately cordoned off. Israeli authorities searched his home for compromising things. Without success. According to testimonies of his cousin, published in the press, “  Iyad did not even know what a soldier was, nor a weapon. He didn't know there was "another side".  "

This story quickly provoked outrage, and on both sides of the Green Line, the dividing line between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, which is rare enough to be emphasized. The Israeli Defense Minister has apologized for the murder. On the Palestinian side, Fatah denounces "  a war crime  ".

"  Palestinian Lives Matter  "

When the world is watching the death of George Floyd in the United States, this story directly echoes it. A quick comparison was made between the lives of Palestinians and the lives of black Americans. On the social networks, the hashtag “  Palestinian Lives Matter  ” has even echoed the rallying cry “  Black Lives Matter  ”. Rallies were held almost every night, everywhere, on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and in the Arab localities of Israel.

Israeli police executes Palestinian man with special needs this morning in East #Jerusalem. Iyad Khayri, 32, had developmental disorder and worked as a hairdresser. #palestine #icantbreathe #minneapolispalestine #PoliceBrutality pic.twitter.com/kdRiMXxLTu

On Instagram or Facebook, many Palestinian artists post old photos of police, Israeli army officers kneeling on the necks of arrested Palestinians. Images similar to those of the death of George Floyd. In Ramallah, an Institute for Public Democracy shared a drawing on Twitter of Iyad Hallak and George Floyd side by side. In legend: "  two countries, same system  ".

From Minneapolis to Jerusalem: Israelis and Palestinians take to the streets to protest police violence, drawing parallels between the killing of Iyad Hallak and George Floyd.https: //t.co/b9CfqH9sam

By @ OrenZiv1985

A committed Israeli columnist also highlighted the comparison between Israeli and American police, also citing the difference in echo around the world. "  There, they kill blacks, whose blood is cheap, and in Israel, they kill Palestinians, whose blood is even cheaper. But here, murder puts us to sleep. There, it triggers protests .  "

Afraid to put your hand in your pocket

An Israeli association fighting for Palestinian rights, Btselem, has published a non-exhaustive list with the stories of 11 Palestinians killed in conditions similar to that of Iyad Hallak.

According to a professor of political science at the University of Birzeit, most of his students, whenever they had to pass a checkpoint or meet soldiers, were afraid to put their hand in their pocket or to look for something in their backpack. For fear that the soldiers might think they were armed.

► Read also: West Bank: Palestinian teenager killed by the Israeli army

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