Israeli press review: Soldier kills Israeli man wielding a knife
Israeli trooper kills man with mental health issues
A soldier fatally shot an Israeli man suffering from mental health issues in central Israel after thinking he was going to carry out a stabbing, Israeli media has reported.
Monday's incident happened at a bus stop in the city of Ra'anana north of Tel Aviv.
According to police, the soldier claimed a 40-year-old man approached him carrying a knife and ignored his requests to stop and drop it.
The man, who was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial years back, then ran towards another civilian before the soldier fatally shot him twice and lightly injured another person with shrapnel.
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Police released the soldier on the same day after he was questioned. According to Haaretz, the police are expected to close the case.
Israeli forces uphold a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in cases even where the victims do not pose an imminent threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers who proceed to kill them.
Rights groups have long criticised Israel for the practice, saying it amounts to summary execution.
Ben-Gvir's aide 'works with group helping settler murderers'
The man representing the far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir's party in coalition talks to form a government is the legal adviser for a group that raises funds for settlers who have been convicted of killing Palestinians, Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 revealed on Monday.
The expose, reported by the Times of Israel, revealed documents which showed that Chanamel Dorfman had submitted legal forms on behalf of the Shlom Asiraich group.
The NGO said in a recent flyer that it had raised more than $43,000 last year for Israeli settlers who had killed Palestinians in several attacks in the occupied West Bank in recent years.
The settlers include: Yosef Chaim Ben-David, who in 2014 abducted 16-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Abu Khdeir, beat him and burned him alive; Amiram Ben-Uliel, who in 2015 firebombed the Palestinian family of Dawabshe killing three people, including one-year-old toddler Ali Dawabshe; and Jack Teitel, who in 1997 fatally shot a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and killed another man in Hebron later that same year.
According to Channel 13, Dorfman declined to comment on his links with Shlom Asiraich.
The far-right Jewish Power party, which is led by Ben-Gvir, did not comment on Shlom Asiraich's work but praised Dorfman as "a talented and sought-after attorney who represents a diverse range of organisations".
"We are proud to receive the support of his services," the party said in a statement.
Ben-Gvir, who is seeking to become the country's next internal security minister, said Dorfman was his "right-hand" man in a speech following the general election earlier this month, which resulted in his Religious Zionism alliance becoming the third-biggest force in parliament.
US pressures Netanyahu over security minister pick
The United States has sent messages to Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to be careful in picking the country's next defence and internal security ministers, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.
The report on Tuesday said that US officials have told Netanyahu "Israel will do well" to choose ministers that Washington can work with.
It added that no politician has been mentioned by name, but that the US requests had come after demands made by far-right leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to be selected as minister of defence and minister of internal public security, respectively.
Last week, the US news outlet Axios reported a senior member of the Biden administration had said bilateral relationships between the countries would be "hugely influenced" by who was selected as defence minister.
Earlier this month, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price also condemned Ben-Gvir after he joined a memorial honouring a Jewish supremacist rabbi, Meir Kahane, calling his attendance "abhorrent".
Price said Washington was "concerned by the use of Kahane's legacy and rhetoric by extremist and violent right-wing activists".
Israeli press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.
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