Israel holds Palestinian protester
A Palestinian man has been captured by Israeli special forces after storming into the British embassy’s car park in Tel Aviv to demand political asylum in the United Kingdom, the British Foreign Office says.
A special Israeli forces team captured and detained the Palestinian man hours after he burst into the British embassy in Tel Aviv on Thursday, threatening to commit suicide unless granted political asylum.
Israeli media reported that Nadeem Injaz, 28, a Palestinian from Ramallah, had collaborated with the Israeli authorities in the past, providing information from the Palestinian territories, but was left desperate because of Israeli refusal to grant him permanent residence in Israel.
Injaz, brandishing a handgun that later turned out to be a toy, said that he faced certain death at the hands of armed Palestinians if he was forced to return to Ramallah.
In a phone conversation with Israeli Channel Two television, Injaz said: “They will either take me out of here [British embassy] to Europe, or as a body [dead]”.
Armed with assault rifles, the special forces stormed the car park and arrested Injaz after a six-hour standoff.