Israel condemned Sunday the remarks of the United Nations' Mideast coordinator, who took to Twitter on Friday to say that he was "horrified" by the video of an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank on Friday.
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"Horrified by today's killing of a Palestinian man, Ammar Mefleh, during a scuffle with an Israeli soldier near Huwwara in the occupied West Bank," Tor Wennesland wrote in a tweet, failing to mention that the Palestinian, who by then had already stabbed two other Israeli soldiers, was trying to seize the border guard's automatic weapon when he was shot.
He added, "My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family. Such incidents must be fully & promptly investigated, & those responsible held accountable."
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon slammed Wennesland for "distorting reality," and said that the incident was "a terror attack, in which an Israeli policeman was stabbed in his face and the life of another police officer was threatened and consequently he shot his assailant. This is NOT a 'scuffle' – this is a terror attack!"
Video of the incident showed a bloodied Palestinian struggling with the border guard while two other Palestinians appeared to be assisting the assailant to break free. The guard loosened his grip over the assailant when his automatic weapon fell on the ground, pulled out his handgun and discharged four shots at the terrorist.
According to the Israeli Border Police spokesperson, the attack occurred after a group of suspects approached the patrol of soldiers operating in the area. In a video of the attack, the suspected attacker attempted to steal the Border Patrol agent's gun before stabbing him.
Border police distributed a photo of a knife on the ground and another of a policeman with what appeared to be a stabbing wound to his head.
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