Police brutality
In a tragic case of injustice a 17-year old boy, a new immigrant to
Israel from the US, was arrested by police one evening a few weeks ago in
Karmiel when someone called to say that he was seen in their garden
acting suspiciously. He told the police that he had gone there to
urinate while waiting for a friend nearby. But, the police not only
arrested him, but beat him, and then took him to the police station where
he was further interrogated without family or lawyer and further abused.
The police claimed that he had one gram of marijuana on him, but he
claims that this was planted. But, following a magistrate's hearing he
was then jailed in a maximum security prison near Haifa and put in a cell
with three youth offenders, who beat and raped him repeatedly over the
weekend. No-one came to see how he was or to help him. His condition was
confirmed by a physician after the incident.
The case received no coverage in the Hebrew press, but the Jerusalem Post
revealed the story and this caused a strong reaction. The boy's family
announced that due to his terrible treatment at the hands of the police
they were leaving the country and returning to America. Some human
rights organizations also took up the story and it was said to be typical
of the mistreatment that the police mete out to anybody who comes under
their control. Police brutality is common in Israel and this is not an
isolated case. It should be noted that there are no local police forces
in Israel, all police are controlled from the National Police
headquarters in Jerusalem, and as a result the police tend to be
unresponsive to local concerns. Like police everywhere they tend to take
the law into their own hands.
The new organization Hadar, that has been formed to support the interests
of English speakers in Israel, has taken up the boy's case. They have
written letters to several top Israeli Government officials calling for
an investigation and the indictment of the police officers involved. Gil
Troy, a professor of law at McGill University in Canada, who has written
several editorials on the issue, also contacted MK Yochanan Plesner
(Kadima), a member of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice
Committee. A meeting was arranged between Plesner and the family. As a
member of the Law and Justice Committee, Plesner formally presented the
issue to the Knesset. He posed a parliamentary question to the Minister
of Interior, inquiring about the steps he intends to undertake in order
to determine what happened, punish those involved that broke the law, and
implement laws and procedures that will prevent such horrific situations
from occurring in the future.
Notice: I have been having trouble with my e-mailings. The max no. of addressees on Yahoo is 50, and this became a problem of multiple
mailings, so I switched to G-mail that has a max of 200. However, of the
e-mails I sent out in the last two days 300 came back undelivered. So
now I'm trying bezeqint, and reducing the number again. Remember you can
see the blog at Isblog (www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com)
Israel from the US, was arrested by police one evening a few weeks ago in
Karmiel when someone called to say that he was seen in their garden
acting suspiciously. He told the police that he had gone there to
urinate while waiting for a friend nearby. But, the police not only
arrested him, but beat him, and then took him to the police station where
he was further interrogated without family or lawyer and further abused.
The police claimed that he had one gram of marijuana on him, but he
claims that this was planted. But, following a magistrate's hearing he
was then jailed in a maximum security prison near Haifa and put in a cell
with three youth offenders, who beat and raped him repeatedly over the
weekend. No-one came to see how he was or to help him. His condition was
confirmed by a physician after the incident.
The case received no coverage in the Hebrew press, but the Jerusalem Post
revealed the story and this caused a strong reaction. The boy's family
announced that due to his terrible treatment at the hands of the police
they were leaving the country and returning to America. Some human
rights organizations also took up the story and it was said to be typical
of the mistreatment that the police mete out to anybody who comes under
their control. Police brutality is common in Israel and this is not an
isolated case. It should be noted that there are no local police forces
in Israel, all police are controlled from the National Police
headquarters in Jerusalem, and as a result the police tend to be
unresponsive to local concerns. Like police everywhere they tend to take
the law into their own hands.
The new organization Hadar, that has been formed to support the interests
of English speakers in Israel, has taken up the boy's case. They have
written letters to several top Israeli Government officials calling for
an investigation and the indictment of the police officers involved. Gil
Troy, a professor of law at McGill University in Canada, who has written
several editorials on the issue, also contacted MK Yochanan Plesner
(Kadima), a member of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice
Committee. A meeting was arranged between Plesner and the family. As a
member of the Law and Justice Committee, Plesner formally presented the
issue to the Knesset. He posed a parliamentary question to the Minister
of Interior, inquiring about the steps he intends to undertake in order
to determine what happened, punish those involved that broke the law, and
implement laws and procedures that will prevent such horrific situations
from occurring in the future.
Notice: I have been having trouble with my e-mailings. The max no. of addressees on Yahoo is 50, and this became a problem of multiple
mailings, so I switched to G-mail that has a max of 200. However, of the
e-mails I sent out in the last two days 300 came back undelivered. So
now I'm trying bezeqint, and reducing the number again. Remember you can
see the blog at Isblog (www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com)
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:18 PM
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