Israel Matzav

US citizen beaten by Israeli police, State Department wakes up, demands investigation

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

The US State Department didn't seem very interested when US citizen Naftali Frenkel HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) was kidnapped and murdered by 'Palestinian' terrorists. But now they're determined to atone for it. A US citizen was captured on tape being beaten by Israeli border police this week and the State Department has gone ballistic. You might ask what changed since June 12. One thing that has changed is that this kid is a 'Palestinian.' In fact, he's a cousin of the 'Palestinian' who was murdered last week - probably by family members for being gay. This is from the first link.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki named the youth as Tariq Khdeir, 15. He was a cousin of Muhammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian whose burned body was found Wednesday in the Jerusalem Forest. Khdeir was visited by a U.S. consulate official, the statement said.

"We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force," Psaki said. "We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force."

"We reiterate our grave concern about the increasing violent incidents, and call on all sides to take steps to restore calm and prevent harm to innocents," it added.

Khdeir, according reports in Orlando, Florida, is a high school sophomore in Tampa, who was visiting his Palestinian relatives in Shuafat, Jerusalem, for the first time in over a decade when he was beaten and detained. 

The incident took place on Thursday outside the home of the murdered teenager, said to be his cousin. The Forward quoted the Council on American-Islamic Relations as saying that he suffered serious injuries in the beating and is being held under police guard at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

Khdeir is due to be brought before a judge in Jerusalem on Sunday, Ma'an news agency reported.

The kid was beaten during a protest outside his house - at least he wasn't beaten in a police station - but he was handcuffed and on the ground. Haaretz reports that three border police officers beat the boy - I actually only saw one sitting on him and one hitting him until the end when they start to drag him away.

I'm going to embed the video below (sorry if YouTube makes you sign in to watch it) because I want to make a couple of other points about it.

Let's go to the videotape.



I don't know how anyone can tell from watching the video that those are border police and not rioters. Their faces are covered with ski masks and they don't seem to be wearing the border police's khaki uniforms. The police have not take responsibility for this, but they are investigating.

I have pointed out in the past that the border police are full of 'minorities' (Bedouin and Druze and that they have also been involved in violence against Jews in the past. If I had to pick a unit that was likely to do this sort of thing, it would be the border police. Assuming that they did it, it's still no excuse for Israel's government and police department, and heads ought to roll.

Well at least this time, Jen Psaki remembered the victim's name.

Labels: East Jerusalem, gay Palestinians, Israeli border police, Palestinian rioters, Palestinian riots

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:43 AM