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Israeli Knesset Committee discusses police conduct during Caesarea protests – Israel News

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The Knesset National Security Committee met Tuesday morning to discuss the conduct of officers from Israel’s Hadera police station during protests in Caesarea and “the ongoing violation of the right to protest and the rights of those arrested,” the committee said.

While the behavior of Hadera police was a focus of the meeting, and some protesters said the behavior of Hadera officers was unusual because of its violent nature, the committee discussed police behavior and violence at protests across the country.

Protesters share their experiences

The demonstrators shared their experiences at the meeting. A 55-year-old woman said she was beaten by police at a protest. She described standing on the sidewalk when a senior police officer came up to her and punched her twice before grabbing her and trying to drag her over police barricades. “I’ll show you,” the officer told her as he dragged her, she said.

She was freed from the officer’s grasp before moving to the back of the protest, where she was again approached by officers, who she said threw her to the ground. She was arrested and, despite repeated requests, was not given the opportunity to use the toilet, which resulted in her wetting herself, she told the committee.

Another protester said he heard threats from police and said a senior officer told a protester he would “break every bone in his body.”

MK Gilad Kariv, chairs, attends a meeting of the Legal and Constitutional Committee on June 26, 2022 (Source: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)

MP Gilad Kariv (Labour), one of the MPs who requested the meeting be held, said that Israeli police regularly break the law when it comes to their behavior during protests.

Among other points he listed, he said senior police officers had made political comments against protesters and that senior officers often refused to give reasons for arrests.

Kariv cited court rulings from hearings of arrested protesters that suggest police made unnecessary arrests and held those arrested overnight without reason. “There was no justification to arrest this person and certainly no reason to hold him,” he quoted from one such decision.

According to Kariv, there are dozens of such unjustified arrests. He also said that there are many cases in which the police act violently and use excessive force. Some of the police officers involved in this violence were senior police officers and not beat cops or lower-ranking officers, he added.

As a possible explanation for unnecessary detentions, Kariv said he had been told by officials that there were instructions “from above” that for certain protests, “this night will not end without arrests.”

Kariv described the failure of the police and Justice Ministry mechanisms to respond to cases transparently, citing a number of examples of unanswered complaints filed by him and other organizations.

He also addressed police confiscation of protesters’ equipment and property, saying there was a new trend of confiscating phones that protesters use to record police conduct and arrests.

MK Naor Shiri (Yesh Atid), another MK who requested the meeting, said that the police enforce the law selectively, working like a well-oiled machine in some cases to quickly file charges, but in other cases apparently for political reasons.

MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) said at the meeting that the police cover up incidents of police violence or lie in reports about their behavior.

Commander Gilad Bahat was the police representative and was asked to provide an official response to the concerns raised at the meeting. He said some of the accounts protesters shared at the meeting were “one side’s version.” There are a number of court decisions that contradict some of what was said at the meeting, he added, without elaborating.

He said police were determined to allow protests and were responsible for the public safety of everyone, including demonstrators.

“Freedom of expression ends where crimes begin,” he added, saying police would defend the right to protest until the crime is committed.

If there is suspicion that the police have acted unlawfully, there are mechanisms in place to check this, he said.

“The police are not always perfect; if there are errors, they should be investigated,” he said. The police are doing their maximum, but “you have to understand that this is a very complex task,” he told the committee.

Bahat said the police would submit written responses to the committee’s questions that were not answered in the meeting.



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