Israeli police launched Monday an investigation into the reported lynching of an innocent Eritrean man by a group of Israelis.
According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, police are searching for the Israelis who allegedly attacked the man after he had already been shot by a security guard at a bus terminal in the southern city of Beersheba.
The crowd purportedly thought – mistakenly – that the man was involved in an earlier attack at the terminal that left an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian suspect dead and another eight people injured.
Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reported that 26-year-old Mila Bansomo had died in hospital after having been “severely beaten” by the crowd.
A video released on social media shows a group of people attacking a man lying prone on the floor. Several of those in the group can be seen kicking the man in the head repeatedly.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, project director for Hotline for Refugees & Migrants, an Israeli rights group, wrote in a Facebook post that there had never been a reported attack in Israel by an African refugee.
“The reason the violent mob made a connection between African refugees and terrorism is due to years of government incitement against refugees, including completely unfounded claims that they’re somehow connected to terrorism,” Tsurkov wrote.