ON THE BRINK OF THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

There is terrible police violence in Israel and violent cops need to get more than slaps on the wrist. We need to remember that the police force is not an army and civilians are not the enemy

 

By Avi Dabush  

 

Israel Hayom

June 3, 2020

 

Let's admit the truth. The images from the Unites States, while appalling, are also providing some of us a bit of solace. After all, what's happening over there can't happen here. At least that's what we tell ourselves.

In Israel things are different, we say. Cops don't choke people to death, and violent riots, like the ones currently unfolding on our television screens, don't really happen here.

One reality can never fully be compared to another. Yet still, patting ourselves on the back on this issue might conceal a bitter truth which must be addressed: police violence in Israel is a real problem for many of us.

Remember Yanki Rosenberg? He was the young, autistic, ultra-Orthodox man who was beaten to a pulp by police officers around a year ago. After a few months, the Police Internal Investigations Department closed the case against the officers involved. And what about Solomon Teka? The protests that erupted in the wake of his killing also turned violent on the fringes. There's no justification for violence, but the moment that populations and people feel no one hears them and they have nothing to lose, things become dangerous for us all. "A Riot is the language of the unheard," said Martin Luther King Jr.

Let's also discuss Yacoub Abu al-Kiyan, who was killed in Umm al-Hiran. The police's unequivocal tone insinuated he was a dangerous killer, an agent of the Islamic State terrorist organization. The truth that later emerged, however, told a completely different story: al-Kiyan, a teacher by profession, was horrifically and unnecessarily shot to death in an incident that also claimed the life of police officer Erez Levi. Al-Kiyan was left to bleed to death after he was withheld medical treatment. What about the investigation into the officers who pulled the trigger you ask? It was closed.

There exists a common denominator for all of these incidents: The victims were all "other" Israelis. We don't tend to view Israeli society as Haredi, Arab or Ethiopian- only if we were born into one of these groups. Therefore, the struggles these communities have with police violence are often "secluded."

Are you familiar with John Rawls' "veil of ignorance" exercise? What would happen if we could all imagine ourselves reborn into a different group? What if we could truly ponder stepping into the shoes of a Haredi person, a woman, a Sephardic, Arab or Ethiopian person? Israeli society is an ensemble, not a monolith.

There is terrible police violence in Israel. We give the police its legal authority, which it sometimes abuses. We're not talking about what happens over there in the US. It happens here, in our exemplary little country.

The bad news is: It could get worse. Our situation could become similar to the situation in US. The good news: We can fix what we've ruined. We fix it through proper training and education. We can create a new "spirit of leadership." There's a connection, even if not a completely direct one, between the Public Security minister's declaration that anyone who tries harming a police officer is putting his life at risk, and the shooting death of the autistic Arab man in east Jerusalem.

The previous police commissioner's bold statement about over-policing in the Ethiopian community is important, but not enough. We must find the way, and the tools, to reduce over-policing and itchy trigger fingers, particularly when it comes to targeted populations. We need to remember that the police force is not an army and civilians are not the enemy.

There must also be a stick with which to deter certain police behavior. The fact that the Police Internal Investigations Department closed its investigations goes beyond the pale. When this department becomes a tool for whitewashing crimes, it's obvious that immediate change is imperative. Those pontificating day and night about the plundering of the justice system are turning a blind eye when violent cops get a slap on the wrist instead of losing their jobs or doing jail time.

We are on the brink of the American abyss. Let's take a few steps back.