Israel’s aide to education minister shot dead: Officials
The advisor to Israel’s education minister on Arab affairs has been shot dead near his residence in the town of Rameh, officials say.
Fifty-year-old Sahar Ismail, who worked with Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, was pronounced dead by medics of Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom (MDA), in the northern Arab town after being gunned down just outside his home on Sunday morning.
“When we arrived at the scene, we saw the wounded man suffering from a penetrating injury to his body. He was unconscious, with no pulse or respiration,” an MDA medic said in a statement. “We performed medical tests, but he was without vital signs and we had no choice but to pronounce him dead.”
According to Rameh’s mayor Shawki Abu Latif, Ismail was shot dead by “unknown figures with automatic weapons” as soon as he left his home. The mayor added that around 20 shots had been fired.
Separately, an eyewitness told the media that “a masked man fired several shots [at Ismail] and then fled the scene. We don't know if anyone was helping him.”
A long-time Likud activist and a former member of the Likud central committee in Rameh, Ismail was a member of the New Hope Party and was placed 17th on the party’s Knesset roster ahead of the March elections.
The party was founded by Gideon Sa'ar after breaking off from Likud back in March. After Sa'ar quit Likud, Ismail followed his close colleague into the new party.
Shasha-Biton’s office said in a statement that the minister “was dismayed to receive the news of the murder and is in constant contact with the family.”
The New Hope Party said it was “shocked and hurt by the murder of our friend Sahar Ismail.”
Israeli police said they have opened an investigation into the deadly shooting.
Arab cities and towns have seen an increase in violence in recent years, with organized crime considered the main driver.
Since January, 72 people, including 10 women and 34 men under the age of 30, have been murdered in the Arab community. As for last year, 96 Arab Israelis were killed, by far the highest annual toll in recent memory.
Inhabitants of the Arab-Israeli communities blame the regime’s police, who they say have failed to curb powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence.
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