Hawzah News Agency (Occupied Territories of Palestine) - Imad Abu Shamsiyya, a Palestinian activist who filmed the point-blank shooting of Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif by an Israeli soldier in Al-Khalil last March, said he “feared for his life” after the Israeli soldier was found guilty of manslaughter for the killing Wednesday.
One message written to Abu Shamsiyya said that his killing was "inevitable," while the activist also said members of the soldier's family had broken into his house.
At a protest in Al-Khalil organized by al-Sharif’s family while the verdict was being announced, Abu Shamsiyya told he has continued to receive hundreds of death threats since the video he shot for Israeli rights group B’Tselem went viral and sparked international outrage over the apparent “extrajudicial execution” of al-Sharif, who was already seriously injured after being shot for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier.
He said that members of Elor Azarya’s family -- the soldier who shot al-Sharif -- broke into his home and "asked me to go to court and change my testimony." He said he had video footage proving the incursion took place.
“I have received hundreds of messages from Israeli settlers threatening me, and they have tried to pay me bribes to convince me to change my testimony in court."
Abu Shamsiyya testified in June amid the ongoing trial, when he said Azarya’s defense attorney “tried to mislead the court by raising doubt” about his testimony.
Abu Shamsiyya added that Israeli forces surrounded his house on Wednesday and prevented reporters and other people from accessing the home during the court hearing.
Director of the Al-Khalil unit of the Palestinian Prisoner's Society Amjad al-Najjar told at the protest that he had personally seen “hundreds of messages from settlers and from Israeli occupation forces threatening Abu Shamsiyya,” saying that the activist’s life was “now in danger and we should create a committee to protect him.”
Just one day after the killing and release of the video back in March, Israeli settlers gathered outside the home of Abu Shamsiyya to throw rocks and make death threats, and he has received countless hateful messages on Facebook since.