ISRAELI POLICE ADMIT ILLEGAL CONFISCATION OF EVIDENC
ISRAELI POLICE ADMIT ILLEGAL CONFISCATION OF EVIDENCE
Date added: 11/6/2007
KFAR SABA [Israel] -- Israeli police admitted that officers confiscated
film footage of what 46 Jewish teenage demonstrators deemed police brutality
during the mass arrest in a new outpost in the West Bank."We only confiscated one [film] cartridge from a person who was not a
journalist to use as evidence," Judea and Samaria police spokesman Dan Poleg
said. "If they have complaints [of police brutality] let them make a
complaint to the police complaints unit."Dozens of police officers stormed the newly formed Jewish outpost of
Shvut Ami near the Jewish community of Kedumim on Nov. 4 to evict 70 youths
and demolish a structure at the site.During the raid police arrested 46 teenagers, including at least 20
girls. The youths said the police used undue force to arrest them and for
the second time in as many weeks, confiscated cameras and refused to return
them.The Land of Israel Legal Forum said border guard police commander Shlomo
Even Paz again confiscated a video camera of one of their photographers. The
police complaints unit is already investigating Even Paz for illegally
removing the memory card from a video camera of one youth who filmed the
earlier violent dispersal of Jewish teenagers at the site."Shlomo Even Paz has become a serial destroyer of evidence," Israel
Legal Forum Director Nachi Eyal said. "He is already under investigation and
that's why he sent one of his officers to confiscate the cartridge this
time. We have sent a letter to the police chief and the army central
commander asking to investigate why he [Even Paz] allows himself to break
the law."13 youths who refused to identify themselves or agree to the police
demand to distance them from the community for one month were remanded into
custody by the Kfar Saba Magistrates and Juvenile Courts on Nov. 5.Boys as young as 13 and 14 continued to be held in custody until a court
hearing on Nov. 7 during which police said they will ask for an extension of
their remand."We don't know how old they are because they refuse to identify
themselves," Poleg said.At least 150 teenagers gathered outside the West Bank jail at midnight
on Nov. 5 to protest the continued remand of their peers."We are protesting against the mass arrests by the police in the new
settlements," Meir, a protest leader who requested that he not be fully
identified, said.
"If they arrest 60, we'll bring 120 [supporters] and if they arrest 80,
we'll bring 160."
Once again we see the old game being played out over land, Jews seek to settle the Land of Israel and the police as an arm of the Israeli government seek to curtail Jews from settling the Land of Israel.
But what has become a troubling aspect of this old game is the level of force used by the police against these people and then their willingness to seize and destroy evidence of their brutality.
This should be a warning sign for all of us that love Israel. We should never be willing to accept this type of actions from the police and it is time for the officers that have engaged in this type of behavior to be called to justice.
