The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court has ruled that police must compensate a young man who claimed he was violently assaulted by a Border Police officer, falsely accused of attacking the officer, and wrongfully detained for 48 hours.
The court ordered the police to pay a total of NIS 48,000 in damages. At the time of the incident, which occurred about five years ago during the annual Flag March events in Jerusalem, the claimant was under the age of 17 and had no prior criminal record. He was represented by attorney Menashe Yado of the Honenu legal aid organization.
According to the lawsuit, the teenager was standing with a group of youths near Damascus Gate and complied with police instructions to leave the area. Despite this, a Border Police officer allegedly began pushing him without justification.
The lawsuit claimed that when the teenager grabbed onto a fence to prevent himself from falling and asked the officer to stop, the officer grabbed his head and struck it twice against a helmet attached to the officer’s body. The incident left the teenager with an eye injury that required medical treatment at a hospital.
The lawsuit further alleged that the officer, after realizing the severity of the incident, chose not to accept responsibility and instead claimed that the teenager had assaulted him. The allegation resulted in the teenager’s arrest for 48 hours.
It was also found that the officer’s body camera was not activated during the incident, in violation of police procedures.
The lawsuit criticized the Police Internal Investigations Department (PID), claiming that despite receiving a complaint supported by evidence, including video footage that contradicted the officer’s account, the department decided not to launch a criminal investigation.
According to the claim, the false allegation created a criminal record that negatively affected the young man’s life and even prevented him from receiving certain work permits.
During the court proceedings, a video documenting the incident was presented. The judge rejected the officer’s version of events, ruling that the officer’s conduct was “extremely serious" and that he had injured the claimant and then filed a false assault complaint “in order to create, after the fact and artificially, justification for the improper use of force."
The court awarded the claimant NIS 30,000 for the wrongful arrest, NIS 10,000 for physical injury, and NIS 8,000 for legal expenses.
Attorney Yado said the ruling demonstrated the need to hold officers accountable for excessive force and false reports. “This case exposes a disturbing reality in which a police officer is willing to use excessive force, conceal it by failing to activate a body camera, and then submit a false report that harms an innocent citizen," Yado said. “Even more serious is the failure of the PID to act despite clear evidence. We will continue to fight so that officers who use violence and fabricate evidence are held accountable."