Israel Matzav

Video: SWAT team commander orders officers to shoot Jewish teenagers during Migron expulsion

My apologies in advance - this deeply disturbing video is in Hebrew with Hebrew-only subtitles. If I find it in English, I will repost it.

In this video, you will see five teenage boys, who look to be about 14-16, on the roof of a 'caravan' in Migron, the Jewish outpost whose residents were expelled last week. An officer of the SWAT team that came to expel the Jews (most of whom had already left) orders his officers to kill the boys, but the officers say they won't do it because there are cameras there.

Toward the end, as the boys are being shoved into a police van, the commander says to one of the boys that he's lucky there were cameras there, and another boy asked what would have happened if there were no cameras there. The officers pull the commander away.

Let's go to the videotape.



At the very end, there's a story that MK Michael Ben Ari has called for indicting the police commander who ordered his officers to kill the boys. There's a similar story in English here, which includes a much longer version of the video seen above.

The protesters had gathered on the roof of one of the structures in the area. Residents did not offer any resistance to the eviction, and there were no reports of exceptional incidents or violent resistance on the part of anyone, resident or protester. The protesters on the roof shouted slogans against the eviction and in support of the continued Jewish presence at the site.

Police, meanwhile, gathered around the roof, demanding that the protesters leave. They refused, and the tones police used to demand that they leave grew progressively harsher, until police started shouting “pull them down off the roof,” and “kill them.” One officer is seen telling a youth “come over here. You're dead, you're going to die" (the incident can be seen about 12 minutes into the video, linked below).

About 8 protesters were arrested. One of the detained youths reported that the officer who took him in told him that he was “lucky that he was caught on film,” leaving to the imagination what would have happened o him if he had not been so “lucky.”

In a statement, police said that the eviction of Migron residents and protesters “had been conducted with cooperation of all, ensuring the privacy and dignity of residents.” The protesters, whom police said had gathered on the roof the night before the eviction and had poured liquids off the roof in order to “defend” themselves, were removed legally. “In the event that a complaint is filed regarding improper behavior by police, it will be dealt with accordingly,” the statement said.

Commenting on the video, MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) demanded that the threatening officers be suspended or removed from the force altogether. In a letter to Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovich, Ben-Ari wrote that “even if the youths were acting in a manner that made officers very angry, there is no place in the Israel Police for such officers. It would be best if, before legal action is initiated, if the officers in question are removed from contact with the public.”

I guess having video can work both ways, can't it?

Labels: Israeli border police, Migron, police brutality

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:28 PM