one of Israel’s most celebrated heroes is an Arab policeman
Israel’s Terror Wave: The Arab Officer Who Became a National Hero
Amir Khoury, an Arab-Israeli officer, rushed to the scene of a terror attack and fought the shooter. He was the second Arab cop to die in the current wave of terror attacks, two of which were conducted by Arab-Israelis
Media coverage in Israel in recent days focused on the fact that two of the deadly terror attacks that have shocked the country were committed by Arab citizens of Israel – a worrying development that casts a dark shadow on Jewish-Arab relations.
But that’s only one part of the story. Just as significant is the fact that two of those killed in the latest terror wave were Arab-Israeli policemen who lost their lives protecting others.
Amir Khoury, 32, grew up in an Arab-Christian family in northern Israel and joined the Israel Police, as other members of his family had done before him. On Tuesday night, while on assignment in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak, he rushed to the scene of a shooting attack after hearing about it on his radio.
Riding a motorcycle, Khoury identified the Palestinian gunman who was carrying out the attack and opened fire on him. He was killed by one of the attacker’s final bullets, but played an important role in stopping him before other innocent civilians were harmed. His partner, whose name has not been made public, eventually killed the terrorist.
Khoury’s funeral took place on Thursday in his hometown of Nof Hagalil, with members of Bnei Brak’s ultra-Orthodox community in attendance to honor the officer for his life-saving actions.
Just a day before Khoury’s death, another young Arab man in uniform was also laid to rest. Yazan Falah, a 19-year-old Border Police officer from the Druze village of Kisra-Sumei in northern Israel, was killed Sunday in an ISIS-inspired shooting attack in Hadera.
According to his family, Falah wanted to join the Border Police in order to serve in the same unit other members of his family had served in before him. His uncle, Louis Falah said that his nephew “felt he belonged to the Border Police family and was proud of his service,” calling the death “a very painful tragedy.”
***
www.haaretz.com