Hamas flags at Salamiya's funeral
Hamas flags at Salamiya's funeralFlash 90

The 20-year-old Border Police officer who shot an Arab attacker in Hevron this week is facing death threats. Arab-language websites have published her picture, and social media users are calling for retaliation.

Hebrew media outlets have blurred the soldier’s image.

The female officer fired on a young Arab man who was pointing a gun at a fellow soldier. An investigation found that the 17-year-old attacker’s gun had contained no bullets, but as the officer told interviewers, “I thought that my partner would die if I didn’t act within seconds. There was no time to confirm that the gun was real.”

Comments posted in Arabic on social networking sites blamed her nonetheless. “Your day is approaching,” some users threatened, while others called her “criminal.”

One website displayed her picture next to that of a hand holding a gun and the words, “Your day is close – yours, and all the Zionists.” Another wrote, “Wanted for international justice – we demand to try the murderess in the international court at the Hague.”

Minister of Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovich called the officer Thursday to offer his praise and support. “You did exactly what you were trained to do, bravely and without hesitation,” he told her. “I respect and honor the [Border Police] activity in this complicated area.”