Updated

An Arab civil rights group has slammed Israeli police over closing its investigation into the fatal shooting of an Arab that sparked violent protests last year.

Adalah said Wednesday that the decision "demonstrates the impunity enjoyed by the Israeli police" and gives the police a "virtual green light" to commit crime.

The police probe cleared officers of any wrongdoing in the shooting of 22-year-old Heir Hamdan last November.

Footage captured the man repeatedly banging on the window of a police vehicle with a knife in his hand. When officers emerged to confront him, he started walking back and was then shot. He later died in a hospital.

Thousands of Arabs took to the streets in northern Israel after the incident, burning tires and hurling rocks and firebombs at the police.