JERUSALEM (JTA) — A former Western Wall security guard was convicted of murder for shooting a mentally unstable man at the site’s plaza.
Hadi Kabalan, a security guard from the Druze village of Beit Jann, was convicted Wednesday in Jerusalem District Court of premeditated murder in the June 2013 shooting of Doron Ben Shlush.
Kabalan, who was new to the job at the Western Wall, claimed that Ben Shlush had shouted “God is great” in Arabic and tried to pull an object from his pocket near the public bathrooms before the guard fired his sidearm more than 10 times.
But an investigation reportedly found that Ben Shlush yelled “Druze, you son of a bitch” at the security guard before Kabalan shot him at close range.
Ben Shlush was well known to Western Wall security, according to reports. He and Kabalan had an altercation early on the same day, according to prosecutors, meaning that Kabalan could not have mistaken him for a terrorist.
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