Border Guard policeman Tal Yemini has been filmed twice employing violence against nationalist protestors – one of them MK Ben-Ari.
The more recent incident occurred on Monday, when a group of nationalist protestors gathered outside an army base in southern Shomron to protest the destruction of several buildings in Jewish towns.
The protestors said they remained on the sidewalk and did not obstruct traffic. Despite this, they said, a policeman named Tal Yemini brutally arrested one of the protestors, gouged his eyes, and broke his nose. The injured protestor was not permitted to receive medical attention until after he was brought to a nearby incarceration center, from where he was rushed to a hospital.
A video clip of the incident shows Yemini attacking and hitting the protestor, though he knew he was being filmed. Other Border Guard policemen were involved in the incident as well, and many others were standing by in the close vicinity.
The protest was called following the destruction by Israeli security forces of a caravan in the hilltop community of Adei Ad, near Shilo and north of Beit El. The forces then proceeded to nearby tiny Nofei Yarden, which they totally destroyed, and concluded the morning’s work by destroying agricultural areas between the two sites. The residents, however, began reconstruction work the very same day.
Adei Ad is not on the list of “unauthorized outposts,” and it is built on state-owned land. Residents feel that the Civil Administration slated their caravan for destruction in revenge for a complaint filed by one of them accusing a Civil Administration official of running him over. The residents further claimed that the police later allowed seven Arabs to enter the town and roam around. For reasons of security, Arabs are generally not permitted into Jewish communities unless they have been specifically invited to do so.
Previous Violent Incident
In early June, the same policeman - Tal Yemini - was filmed manhandling and participating in the arrest of MK Michael Ben-Ari, ignoring the MK’s parliamentary immunity. Ben-Ari said at the time that he climbed onto an army truck in which two 16-year-old youths were being held after his demand to hear why they had been violently arrested went unanswered.
Ben-Ari was finally physically pulled down from the vehicle, falling to the ground in the process. All the while, the Border Guard policemen were warned by bystanders that they were violating the MK’s parliamentary immunity. Ben-Ari was then taken to the back of the truck and placed inside, where he was punched and hit by the policemen, including Yemini. “If this is what they do to a Knesset Member,” he said, “I can only imagine what they do to 16-year-olds.”
The incident was the subject of a Knesset committee debate, which concluded with criticism of the security forces and a summons to the Chief of Staff and Police Commissioner to appear at another committee debate on the topic.
As a result of this week’s incident, Ben-Ari said, “Yemini must be suspended and prevented from having contact with citizens. Because of him, the Chief of Staff and Police Commissioner have to come to the Knesset and give an accounting for his illegal actions. This officer is a danger to the settlers and to the public in general.”
The Shomron Residents Committee has also asked for his suspension, as well as an investigation into his activities. “He is a habitually violent police officer. Allowing him to remain in the region with command authorities is liable to make the public believe that such severe and systematic violence is the desired police spirit.”
See related blog post by Nadia Matar