Ahmad Erekat’s death shows yet again that Palestinian “eyewitnesses” often lie

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights wrote a narrative of what happened at the Abu Dis checkpoint based on “eyewitnesses.”

But before the video of the incident was released.

According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, … At approximately 15:55, when Erekat’s vehicle approached the checkpoint, it deviated from its path and collided into the traffic island opposite the glass room where Israeli border guard soldiers stationed. The soldiers immediately opened fire at the vehicle, wounding Erekat with several live bullets in his upper body. They pulled him out of the vehicle, threw him on the ground and prevented Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS)’s medical crew from approaching him or providing first aid; leaving him to bleed to his death on the dirt at the checkpoint.

But then the video was released, showing that he got out of the car on his own and was not pulled out and thrown on the ground. He jumped out of the car and was immediately shot.

No one who saw the incident could make such a mistake; the “eyewitnesses” lied.

We have documented many similar cases where Palestinian eyewitnesses are quoted as if they are credible only to be found later to have made up the entire incident or crucial details.

The PCHR, which has links to the PFLP terror group, uncritically believes and reports what it wants to report.

As far as "leaving him to bleed to his death," we do not have video but the police at the scene dispute that too:

Responding to the allegations, a Border Police spokesman told The Times of Israel that forces provided medical attention to the assailant within minutes, but were forced to declare his death minutes later.

Footage from the scene after Erekat had been shot shows him bleeding, but still moving. The Border Police spokesman said the video in question had been filmed in the minutes before medics arrived at the scene.

Given that the Border Police was found to be telling the truth about the incident initially, they have far more credibility than the Erekat family of known and consistent liars.

One more inconsistency that should be mentioned, also from the TOI article:

Shani Orr Hama Kadosh was lightly injured in the incident at a checkpoint in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem.

“I signaled to him to halt, the car started to slow down, and I moved in his direction,” Kadosh told Channel 13 news. “He saw that I took a step, he looked me in the eye, turned the steering wheel and rammed into me, and I flew to the other side” of the median.

“The soldiers understood what happened, heard me yell, turned straight in his direction, saw him getting out in their direction, cocked their weapons, and fired in his direction,” Kadosh said.

In the video, a car driven by Erekat can be seen approaching the checkpoint before abruptly accelerating and turning toward a group of police. The car then rams into Kadosh, who is knocked into the air, then it collides with a booth and comes to a stop.

As the driver gets out of the vehicle, he appears to begin running from the police officers, but quickly falls to the ground after being shot.

“He waited for a good moment, turned from the middle of the lane to the side to get a better angle to hurt the officer and then accelerated, turning his car 90 degrees, and lunged wildly at the officers,” a Border Police statement said.

Was Erekat running away and shot in the back, or was he running towards the officers?

He is blurred in the video, but there is enough there to show that he was facing the officers when he was shot. He exits the car a mere 0.2 seconds after the car finishes its recoil from the crash (innocent people in an accident are stunned for several seconds)  and Erekat certainly appears as if he is about to run towards the police but they shoot him before he gets a chance. I don’t see him “lunging” but it sure looks like he was about to. (He certainly didn’t slowly exit the car with his hands up.)

And, as we saw from his other videos, it looks more like he wanted “suicide by cop” rather than a planned attack.