A disturbing video from a gas station in Nir Banim shows truck driver Michael Cohen, 58, from Haifa, throwing packs of chewing gum at Gabi Kamin, 82, after an argument in the convenience store, and then driving over him when Kamin came out holding a mobile phone to film him. Kamin, a gas station employee, was killed about two and a half weeks ago in the incident, which police later publicized without first informing the family.
Kamin was described by relatives as an active, beloved man in the moshav who kept working despite his age. He left behind five children, Tomer, Sivan, Moav, Yarden and Tali. His children said his greatest joy was his family. “The joy of his life was the children. He was a family man,” they said, adding that in recent years he used to drive once a week to Tel Aviv to pick up his grandchildren from schools and kindergartens, even though it took hours.
Family members told ynet they learned of the death only indirectly. Moav said a friend from the moshav called him after hearing about a crash at the station and asked him to check on his father. He contacted the local security officer, then a police officer called and wanted to meet him at the station in Gan Yavne. “The police did not notify us in time,” he said. “I understood then that it was not a car accident, because I saw my father’s car parked there.” He said he identified the body at the scene and later learned his father had died at 9:00 a.m., while he discovered the news at 12:00.
According to the police investigation, the argument between Cohen and Kamin escalated before the killing. Cohen was initially arrested on suspicion of murder with indifference, but after reviewing the evidence, the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office chose to file an indictment for manslaughter with recklessness, a lesser charge than the original suspicion but more serious than negligent homicide. Kamin’s daughter Sivan said the case reflected a broader national problem, calling it “only a symptom of a more serious disease in the country.”
