Speculation surrounds the death of a 40-year old Israeli Arab man, Abdel Fattah Nassar, shot dead in Cape Town at about 01:30 on Sunday, 30 October. The shooting took place on a road near the popular Oranjezicht City Farm Market and the Grand Africa Cafe & Beach on the outskirts of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
“The circumstances surrounding a shooting incident in Haul Road, Table Bay Harbour, in which a security guard was shot and wounded and a 40-year-old male shot and fatally wounded are under investigation,” says Sergeant Wesley Twigg of the South African Police Service Western Cape Media Centre.
“According to reports, a shootout between the victim and the deceased occurred after they had an argument. Both were taken to a medical facility for medical treatment, where the 40-year-old male later died due to injuries sustained,” says Twigg. “Table Bay Harbour police registered cases of murder and attempted murder for investigation.”
This scenario differs from what was reported in Israeli media. According to The Times of Israel (TOI), Nassar was “gunned down” in a gun battle. The Jerusalem Post said he was “stuck in the crossfire of a firefight between armed men”.
Israeli media identified the man as Nassar, but said he was 23. They reported that he was a resident of the so-called “triangle”, a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line. The 11 towns are home to about 250 000 Arab citizens of Israel, representing between 10% to 15% of Israel’s Palestinian Arab population.
TOI reported that Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was made aware that a citizen had been killed. Nassar’s family had hired a local attorney to help deal with South African authorities, and it was waiting for the results of an autopsy before his body was brought back to Israel.
The Israeli Embassy in Pretoria said, “An Israeli citizen was killed during a gun battle last Saturday in Cape Town. At the moment, we have no further information regarding this unfortunate incident as relevant authorities are overseeing the investigation. On the principle of confidentiality, we’re not at liberty to disclose any further details. The embassy is facilitating the repatriation of the deceased to Israel. We share our condolences with the family and friends of the deceased.”
A family member told the Walla news site that Nassar was “a good guy”, and that he had travelled to South Africa to join his cousin who lives there, hoping to study or find work, possibly in real estate.
But the Israel Hayom newspaper reported that Nassar had ties to organised crime in Israel. According to this report, Nassar was part of the Marwan Nassar crime family based in Tira and had been arrested several times in recent years on suspicion of violent crimes, including shootings and possession of firearms.
At the same time, Israel Hayom said that Nassar had moved to South Africa to distance himself from the gang-land fighting in Israel.
Confusion surrounds his death. According to Walla news, a relative said the family was originally told that he died in a car accident. “Afterwards, there were all kinds of rumours that he was murdered. We still don’t really know exactly what happened.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said it was unaware of any other Israelis injured in the incident, and its department for Israelis abroad was helping to co-ordinate matters with local authorities.
Anyone with any information about this shooting incident can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
