Israel Matzav

Mounted policeman convicted for charging unarmed 'settler' at Amona

In February 2006 the Olmert-Peretz-Livni government sent the police to demolish nine homes on an isolated hilltop called Amona on the outskirts of the Samarian village of Ofra. For those who have forgotten, you may want to see this post and this post.

On Tuesday, mounted policeman David Edry was convicted for charging and knocking down Yehuda Etzion, who is a few years older than I am, and who was the founder of Ofra in the late 1970's. Here's a video of that incident.

Let's go to the videotape.

Over 300 protestors, almost all of them teenagers, were injured by police at Amona and required medical treatment - many of them in hospitals - and close to 50 policemen were injured as well. Protestors told of dozens of cases in which police mercilessly beat defenseless protestors. A Knesset investigative committee was established to look into why the police used, in the words of MK Zevulun Orlev, “excessive force, including beating protestors in the head with batons and releasing horses into crowds, wounding those who were employing passive resistance as well as those who were not.”

Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman ruled that, “The defendant did not attempt to prevent the complainant from being hurt; he did not turn his horse away or try to stop it on time. If he did not want to hurt the complainant, he would not have galloped towards him, or would have stopped before he reached him. Whether it was done purposely or with apathy towards the result, the result was foreseeable and inevitable.”

The dispersal of protests, the judge wrote, “sometimes requires the use of forceful means… including horses… and sometimes there are injuries… In our case, the evidence shows that the actions of the defendant comprised an unreasonable use of force. The protestors were not violent; the actions were not taken directly for the purpose of evacuating people holing themselves up in the outpost… [The protestors] were not attacking policemen, but rather standing and talking. It was not a large group, but rather individuals. They were not ‘wild’ youngsters, but rather a relatively older adult who was standing there.”

The convicted mounted policeman, David Edry, of the Jerusalem Police District, was indicted two months after the incident for having purposely trampled Etzion. The Police Bureau for Investigation of Policemen submitted the indictment, which stated, "Edry spurred on his horse and galloped towards Yehuda Etzion, who was talking at that time with [Yesha Council member] Adi Mintz. Edry caused the horse to gallop towards where Etzion was standing, at a pace faster than would be considered reasonable, hit him with the horse and knocked him to the ground, went over him and trampled him under the horse's legs."

As a result, the indictment states, Etzion "hit his head on the ground, and was caused many bruises on his entire body, including internal bleeding in his right foot and a cut in his skull... Edry attacked Etzion illegally and caused him genuine injury." Etzion, who received 23,000 shekels in damages from the State in the past, said he continued to feel pain for a full month after the incident, and was "convinced that the attack was purposeful."

I hope Edry gets some real jail time, but don't bet on it.

Here's a brief documentary of what happened at Amona.

Let's go to the videotape.



These are the kinds of scenes you can expect if God forbid the government decides to expel Jews from 'illegal outposts' - let alone from actual 'settlements.' Not that anyone in Washington will care.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:54 PM