Israeli police beat up and kneel on the face of left-wing Jewish lawmaker

[yankeedoodle]

Israeli police beat up and kneel on the face of left-wing Jewish lawmaker
https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/israeli-police-beat-up-and-kneel-on-the-face-of-left-wing-jewish-lawmaker

(JTA) — Israeli police beat up a left-wing member of parliament and one officer knelt on his face, drawing outcry from across the political spectrum.

Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish member of the Arab-Israeli Joint List party in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, was at a protest against evictions in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Friday when he became involved in an altercation with police. The police shoved him to the ground and video from the protest shared on social media shows an officer placing his knee on Cassif's face.

"The police are going crazy here, they're not letting people demonstrate," said Cassif, according to the Times of Israel. "They were told I was a Knesset member, it did not interest them."

Police are investigating the incident.

https://twitter.com/SuleimanMas1/status/1380537982218813442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1380537982218813442%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jta.org%2Fquick-reads

Members of Knesset, including those on the right, condemned the officers' treatment of Cassif.

"Brutal behavior like this toward any citizen is improper, let alone a Knesset member who is entitled by law to freedom of movement so he can fulfill his role," said Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, according to the Times of Israel. Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right lawmaker, called it "grave and unacceptable."




Israeli lawmaker manhandled by police as protest against Palestinian evictions turns violent
https://www.rt.com/news/520643-police-punch-israeli-lawmaker-palestinian-protest/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

An Israeli lawmaker has fired off an angry tirade at the government after a video appeared to show him being punched in the face by a police officer at a weekly protest in a majority-Palestinian neighborhood.
Footage shows Knesset member Ofer Cassif engaged in an angry confrontation with cops, before he's hit in the face, dragged away and then held on the ground by members of the security forces.

https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1380535419817889796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1380535419817889796%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fnews%2F520643-police-punch-israeli-lawmaker-palestinian-protest%2F

Cassif's glasses were broken and shirt ripped during the encounter in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where demonstrators were voicing their anger against potential evictions of Palestinians from the area. Police reportedly fired stun grenades and arrested two activists.

In a later video the visibly-upset lawmaker, who is the only Jewish member of the Joint List alliance of Arab-majority political parties, slammed the police officers' tactics, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration.

Loud bangs could be heard as Cassif claimed the police, led by the "fascist" government, protected "criminal" settlers who are accused of evicting Palestinians.

https://twitter.com/geo_pix/status/1380587331019767814?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1380587331019767814%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fnews%2F520643-police-punch-israeli-lawmaker-palestinian-protest%2F

The incident has been condemned by figures across Israel's political spectrum, including within Netanyahu's own Likud party.

For years, several families in the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood have faced eviction from East Jerusalem. Many countries consider the area illegally occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. In February four families from the area lost an appeal in relation to eviction notices, thus speeding up the potential transfer of their homes to Israelis.