Israel Police Major-General Jamal Hakrush announced Monday he was resigning following the media’s exposure of footage in which he is seen skipping over a body in an active crime scene.
The media published footage apparently taken from a security camera from an incident in September 2020 in which Hakrush found himself at the scene of a murder at a factory in the Arab village of Kafr Kanna in the north.
A man who was stabbed in the chest is seen lying on a set of stairs, apparently bleeding to death. He was stabbed as part of a business dispute. Leaving the factory, Hakrush descends the stairs and jumps over the corpse, stumbles on the victim’s leg and then leaves the scene. He did not help the victim or work to apprehend the suspect.
Hakrush stated that he met on Sunday with Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai and submitted his request to resign.
Shabtai “honored his request, thanked him for his service as a pioneer in the police force and as the one who led significant processes to bring the Arabs and Jews closer to the country and wished him success along the way.”
Hakrush, Israel’s first-ever Arab Muslim commissioner, headed a special unit to fight crime in the Arab sector.
Minister of Public Security Omer Barlev stated in response that Hakrush “has many rights that nothing can erase. He was a pioneer and a figure who allowed Muslim society to dream and dare to strive for the highest ranks in the Israel Police. I thank Hakrush for 44 years of public service.”
Hakrush’s decision to resign following the exposure “is appropriate,” he said, while the investigation into the incident will continue.