The remedy for murderous police brutality in Israel and the occupied territories is gag orders
In a series of cases of shooting of civilians by policemen, the Israeli courts have apparently issued gag orders. Such gag orders are not published, and the public is left to guess their existence and scope. In recent weeks, the Israel police has launched a series of criminal investigations against protest activists, who disclosed in social media posts the names of the offending policemen. The use of gag orders in Israel has reached the level of "an epidemic". The US and US Jewish lobby are the main patrons of the Israeli regime and its conduct, both in Israel proper and in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Tel Aviv, July 14 - in recent days the Israel Police has taken actions against several protest activists, following the disclosure of the names of a policemen, who were involved in extreme cases of brutality. Apparently, gag orders have been issued by the courts, prohibiting the publication of the policemen's names... However, the rendering of such gag orders is not published, one usually has to guess it...
Shooting of Palestinian 16 year old Jena Kissawi in Sheikh Jarrah
July 10, 2021, Eran Vered: "The court issued a gag order, prohibiting us from telling the serious deeds of scum of mankind, policeman Abed Naarani... in the service of the No 1 crime organization in Israel. We are (still) permitted to share this video and write that it documents filthy Abed Naarani, while he is perpetrating much less serious deeds than the incident that we are prohibited from speaking of".
The video records policeman Abed Naarani assaulting journalist Or-ly Barlev, while she was reporting from the scene serious police violence against anti-government Jewish protesters near prime minister Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem.
https://www.facebook.com/covfefe1948/posts/1031912644221886
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One of these activists, Eran Vered, was arrested on June 29, 2021, in what appeared to be a high stakes police operation. Vered was ambushed and detained by plain-clothed police, while leaving the Tel Aviv train station, apparently he was positioned through his cell phone. [i] The cause of the detention was three (3) Facebook posts, where he spelled out names, which were under gag orders: The name of the policeman who shot in the back and seriously wounded 16 year old Palestinian Jena Kissawi in Sheikh Jarrah in May 2021, [ii] the name of the policeman who shot to death Ethiopian-Jewish black teen Solomon Teka in June 2019 , [iii] and the name of the IDF 8200 unit intelligence officer who died in military prison in May 2021. [iv]
The names have been widely published in social networks, and the action taken in this case against protest activists has been described as vengeful.
July 12, 2021, Eran Vered: "Police refuses to return my computer and cell phone, which they seized while I was detained at the train station like a head of a crime organization, only because they claim that I published the names of two policemen, scum of humankind. I went to court to seek the return of my phone and my computer. In court hearing today... it turned out that they couldn't unlock my devices, due to encryption (smiley)..."... Attached to the post is a copy of the court protocol of the hearing, where police counsel argues: "The suspect is not cooperating. Had he cooperated and provided us with his codes, we could proceed. He is trying to undermine us and shows contempt for judicial decisions". Vered's counsel argues: "We do not agree to provide the codes".
https://www.facebook.com/covfefe1948/posts/1033328800746937
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The Jerusalem protests provide unique insights. The continuous protests by Jews near the official residence of prime minister Netanyahu, were widely credited for toppling the Netanyahu government. Police exerted unusual brutality towards protesters, unsuccessfully trying to supress the peaceful protests, which often took the character of a carnival. Over the months long protests, several policemen were notable for their brutality, and gained widespread publicity. Policemen Abed Naarani was one of them. [v] A media report described his as follows: "Police pit bull: The policeman who has become the scare of protesters... one who uses exceptional brutality. Testimonies have accumulated against Abed Naarani, which describe elbows to the face, unnecessary fondling, and surprise fist punches". But in the demonstrations by Jews against Netanyahu, never was teargas used, neither was anyone ever shot...
September 21, 2020 Sapir Yohananov: "Police pit bull: The policeman who has become the scare of protesters".
https://twitter.com/SYohananov/status/1308034997853532161?s=20
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At the same time, just a couple of miles away, in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Palestinians have been protesting against evictions and giving of their homes to Jewish settlers. The ongoing struggle against the ethnic cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah has intensified in recent months, and has emerged as a symbol of the Israeli apartheid regime. [vi,vii]
Here, the very same policemen, who beat up the Jewish protesters in front of the Prime Minister's residence resorted to a different level of brutality - tear gas and rubber bullets. The shooting of Jena Kissawi and her father gained particular media attention, since the girl and her father were obviously uninvolved in the protest at all, police shot her in the back, when she was at the gate, entering her home, and then threw in a stun grenade to top it off. Additionally, Jena Kissawi was seriously injured, including a spinal fracture and possible damage to a kidney. Most significantly - video recordings documented the incident in unequivocal manner. [viii] By the end of May, Haaretz reports that the shooting of Jan Kissawi was only one of dozens of incident of the previous month, where excessive force was used against Palestinians, who had not engaged in any violence. Moreover, the same report notes that "the policemen, who perpetrated the actual shooting, had a number of complaints filed against him in the past, pertaining to violence against protesters". [ix]
The killing of Solomon Teka
Ethiopian-Jewish black teen Solomon Teka was shot to death by an off-duty policeman in June 2019 , [x] The incident caused major protests by the Ethiopian-Jewish community in Israel, which experienced routine discrimination and abuse by police. The Washington Post described it as "Black Lives Matter moment in Israel". [xi]
The name of the policeman, who shot Solomon Teka to death is widely known, it has been noted in social media posts, but the policeman's name has been the subject of gag order for over two years. It was also reported that the same policeman was involved a few years earlier in an incident, where he commanded two other policemen, when a handcuffed Palestinian was shot to death at point blank. It was claimed that the policeman was in the other room while the Palestinian was shot, although it was established that the Palestinian was earlier beaten with the policeman's baton. [xii] Regardless, the policeman was not convicted in the killing of the Palestinian ans was not dismissed from police service. On the contrary, he was promoted... Likewise, in 2021, after the same policeman had been suspended from active duty following the killing of Solomon Teka, police decided to have him back in active duty. However, following public protest he was eventually delegated to the fire department... [xiii,xiv]
"An epidemic of gag orders"
Both cases - the shooting of Jena Kissawi and the shooting of Solomon Teka show that police extreme police brutality is often perpetrated by repeat offenders. Certain policemen are prone to violence to the point of willfully shooting and killing people, under circumstances that should be considered criminal. However, such cases also show that the Israel police and justice system tend to protect such criminally violent policemen. The gag orders, prohibiting the publication of the names of such policemen should be deemed part of such patronage of policemen, contrary to public interest.
The number of gag orders, issued by the courts in Israel, has been repeatedly described as "an epidemic": [xv] "at any given moment, dozens or possibly hundreds of gag orders, issued at police request, are hovering over public discourse in Israel". [xvi]
Such protection through gag orders is not unique to violent policemen - the judges in Israel apply the same type of protection - gag orders - also to criminal conduct of others in the higher echelons of government, including offending judges... [xvii]
Such epidemic of gag orders is inconsistent with "democracy", "freedom of speech", and "freedom of the press"...
The US and US Jewish lobby are the main patrons of the Israeli regime and its conduct, both in Israel proper and in the Palestinian occupied territories. [xviii,xix]
LINKS
i Masha Averbuch, Leaving the train station: an activist was detained for violating gag orders and his personal devices were seized, HaMakom (2021)
ii Palestinian teen bears scar of eviction battle in East Jerusalem, Reuters (2021)
iii Noa Shpigel and Josh Breiner, Off-duty Police Officer Shoots Dead Ethiopian Israeli Teen in Northern Israel, Haaretz (2019)
iv Joseph Zernik, Death of Unit 8200 cybersecurity officer Tomer Eiges - a political assassination? OpEdNews.com (2021)
v Police pit bull: The policeman who has become the scare of Balfour protesters, HaMakom (2020)
vi Patrick Kingsley, Evictions in Jerusalem Become Focus of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, New York Tims (2021)
vii A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, HRW (2021)
viii Nir Hasson, Jerusalem Police Officer Who Shot 16-year-old Palestinian Suspended After Footage Emerges, Haaretz (2021)
ix Josh Breiner and Nir Hasson, Five policement have been investigated relative to the shooting of the girl in Sheikh Jarrah, Haaretz (2021)
x Noa Shpigel and Josh Breiner, Off-duty Police Officer Shoots Dead Ethiopian Israeli Teen in Northern Israel, Haaretz (2019)
xi Ruth Eglash, Police shooting of an Ethiopian Jew prompts a Black Lives Matter moment in Israel, Washington Post (2019)
xii Michael Frosmushkin, Expose': The officer who shot Solomon Teka was the commander in an incident, where a Palestinian was shot to death in Jaffa, Posta (2019)
xiii Daniel Siriuti and Itzik Saban, The officer who was indicted in Solomon Teka's death was reinstated by police, Israel Today (2021)
xiv Liran Levy and Yoav Itiel, The policeman who shot Solomon Teka will not be reassigned to police work, Walla (2021)
xv Itamar Baz, The epidemic of gag orders continues, The 7th Eye (2020)
xvi Itamar Baz, Perversion of justice, The 7th Eye (2020)
xvii Joseph Zernik, The remedy for Israeli government corruption? Gag orders!, OpEdnews.com (2017)
xviii Nooran Alhamdan, The United States is Complicit in the Ethnic Cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah, Progressive Policy Review (2021)
xix Mariam Barghouti, Why American politicians cannot say the words ‘Israeli apartheid’, Al Jazeera (2021)
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/9/should-palestinians-be-mad-at-aoc
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