Jerusalem: Police officers filmed beating ultra-Orthodox
Incident occurred during a demonstration against a non-kosher shop
Jerusalem police officers sparked a controversy this week when they were filmed beating and water hosing ultra-Orthodox men protesting in the city’s Geula neighborhood.
The incident began during a protest Wednesday when a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest against a shop that was selling non-kosher phones, The Times of Israel (ToI) reported.
Kosher phones do not have service during the hours of the sabbath, a Saturday in Jewish tradition. The owner of the targeted store told Channel 12 that the demonstrators were violent, damaging property and scaring away customers.
As a result, police were deployed to the area.
During the action an ultra-Orthodox man, Haim Mizrachi, approached officers in a civilian vehicle driving against traffic, apparently unaware that they were police.
“I said I’ll go tell him that he scratched a car. He told me, ‘Okay, okay,’ like ‘I’m coming over.’ Suddenly they jumped on me, choked me, started punching me,” Haim told Channel 12.
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Video of the incident shows Mizrachi calm prior to speaking with the police, and unresisting and unviolent as he is chased and beaten by several officers, ToI reported.
Police said that Mizrachi assaulted officers, and that at least six additional protestors were arrested for public disturbance and blocking traffic, the news site reported.
In another incident shortly after, an ultra-Orthodox man was filmed being struck by a police hose cannon – leaving him unresponsive in the immediate aftermath – and against police regulations not to directly strike people with the powerful device, ToI reported.
Jerusalem’s police force has in the past been criticized for violence towards civilians, particularly against the ultra-Orthodox and Palestinians.
Its officers are also routinely targeted themselves with violence, including in stabbing attacks which are not uncommon around the Old City.