The B'Tselem organization is planning to release a special report Monday criticizing police treatment of Arab teens in Jerusalem. The report specifies 81 teenagers from the Shiloach (Silwan) neighborhood who were arrested.
B'Tselem does not claim that the teenagers are innocent, but rather, states that police should arrest them in a different manner.
Among other things, the organization criticized police for conducting arrests of teenagers at night, and for bearing arms during the arrest. The group argues that minors should be arrested in a less threatening manner.
Police generally prefer to conduct arrests in Arab villages and neighborhoods at night out of concern over the possibility of riots. On several occasions angry mobs have formed to prevent the arrest of suspects in Arab towns.
The report also accuses officers of questioning suspects under the age of 18 without their parents present. Under Israeli law, minor suspects of crimes have the right to have a parent present at their questioning, although that right is limited.
B'Tselem quotes Arab youths who accuse police who conducted arrests during Arab riots of using violence to subdue suspects.
Israel Media Watch reported earlier this year that reports by B'Tselem “are not legitimate” and should not be used as a source in preparing news reports. A short time later, B'Tselem was accused of timing the release of a report on Jewish life in Judea and Samaria so that it would do maximum damage to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's relationship with the Obama administration.
In November it was revealed that one of B'Tselem's backers, “Bubbes and Zaydes for Peace,” calls to boycott Israel and accuses the Jewish state of “apartheid,” a stance considered extreme even within the far-Left community.