The Organization for Human Rights in Yesha says that the State is unduly harsh with soldiers who use force against Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and unduly lenient with security personnel who use force against Jews.
A case in point, the group says, is the Military Prosecution’s case against Lt. Adam Maloul of the Kfir Battalion and First Sgt. Evyatar Gadasi, who are accused of using violence against Arabs from the village of Kadoum in Shomron (Samaria). Their trial is being conducted in the Yafo (Jaffa) Military Court. Maloul was released into house arrest last weekend. Gadasi is still in jail and will probably remain there until June.
The Yesha group’s director, Orit Strook, has sent a letter to the Attorney General, the State Prosecutor, the Chief Military Prosecutor and the Head of the Department for Investigations of Police Officers, in which she said that “the two officers, who devoted years of their lives to defending the country, were placed under arrest for the duration of the legal proceedings against them, and have been sitting in the military jail for over 60 days, because of the Military Prosecution’s request that they be defined as ‘dangerous to the public.’”
Slaps and a head-butt
Strook said that the two military men are only accused of “slaps and a head-butt,” all of which were carried out in the course of an attempt to locate terrorists who has just fired at the homes of Kedumim. No one required medical attention as a result of this violence.
Strook asks why soldiers who hurt Arabs are defined as “dangerous to the public” and placed under arrest for the duration of the proceedings against them, while those who hurt Jews continue to serve, even after their victims have appealed to the High Court.
Hitting Jews is OK?
As an example, she gives the case of police officer Eran Naeem, who – according to the charge sheet against him – “inserted his fingers into the nostrils of [a demonstrator against the Disengagement] and pulled his head backwards in that way.” Naeem was only suspended after an appeal to the High Court and has not served a single day in jail.
Another example of leniency is the case of Yasam police officer Eliran Avraham, who is charged with "hitting [a Jewish demonstrator] in the face and stomach, punching him in the stomach and butting his head, slapping him and pushing his head into the wall,” all while the victim was handcuffed and inside an interrogation room. Avraham was found guilty yet was never suspended or arrested, nor has he been fired from the police force.
Strook cites four more examples of police officers who used severe force against Jewish demonstrators, including the mounted policeman who trampled a demonstrator under the hooves of his horse at Amona, none of whom were suspended or arrested.