Jerusalem chief rabbi pays condolences to family of autistic man slain by cops


Public Security minister skips visit to East Jerusalem family after father posts video saying he doesn’t want Israeli government officials to come

Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern at the condolence call to Eyad Halak’s family, 2 June 2020

The Times of Israel reports:

Jerusalem’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern paid a condolence call on Tuesday evening to the family of Eyad Halak, a 32-year-old East Jerusalem man with special needs who was shot to death by police on Saturday.

Stern was accompanied on the visit by officials from the Jerusalem Municipality and also met there with Muslim religious leaders, expressing his sorrow to the family over the tragedy, his office said.

Halak was shot dead in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, with police saying he had appeared to be holding a gun. But Halak was unarmed and had apparently not understood officers’ orders to halt as he passed near the Lion’s Gate. He reportedly fled on foot and hid in a garbage room, where he was gunned down.

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The rabbi said that he was received with warmth by the family, and that he had visited to stress the sanctity of life and that “all humans are created in the divine image.” Halak’s father was quoted telling the rabbi and the delegation he led that “we all want to live in peace.”

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