Some 20 special-unit Yassam policemen and another 10 regular policemen descended upon an elementary school in Itamar, in the Shomron, on Sunday. They threatened children by loudspeaker, caused children to cry, entered a classroom and took pictures, and kept students closed up in their classrooms for a half-hour - because of a rock allegedly thrown at a police jeep earlier in the day.
The principal of the school, Rabbi Nitzan Yamin, described to Arutz-7 the chain of events:
"A police jeep drove down a road here in Itamar, which has elementary school classes on one side and a yeshiva high school on the other. I asked what they were doing, and they said that someone with a black shirt had thrown a rock at them. We agreed that I would go and check and return in a few minutes. They didn't wait for me, however; they left - and came back ten minutes later with four jeeps and another van, with a total of about 20 Yassamniks and 10 other policemen.
"They started running up and down and into the classrooms and in between the rooms and into the school yard, scaring all the children and yelling at them. They also went into the 7th grade and took pictures of the children. There were kids 6 and 7 years old, crying and scared. Some kids started to run away, and the police yelled over a megaphone that they would break their heads. None of them were wearing name tags...
"They came here to scare the children, and they succeeded. I told all the children to return to their classes, and told the children to lock their doors. I told the police I would make sure that everyone stayed in their rooms - but the police remained there for a full half-hour to make sure that no one left. Then they finally left themselves."
Rabbi Yamin said that the police are forbidden from entering a school without coordinating it with the management. He said he had notified the Education Ministry, Council For Children's Welfare, Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi, and Knesset Members. "I received an answer so far only from the Education Ministry," he said, "which said that it views this gravely, that this was the second such complaint it had received of late, and that it will hold a meeting on the issue this week. They also advised me to make sure the school psychologist works with the children. Some of the parents didn't even send their children to school yesterday because of this."
Rabbi Yamin also said that MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) had mentioned it in his Knesset speech yesterday. "Ze'ev was speaking about the Constitution, and asked rhetorically whether a constitution could stop such breaches of civil rights as were in Itamar the other day, and he described it in a sentence or two."
At Arutz-7's request for comment on the issue, police spokesman Shlomo Sagi issued the following statement:
"Rocks were thrown at a jeep, and the police ran after boys who ran towards a school. The commander arrived and talked with the principal, and after a discussion it was decided that the principal would try to find the boy who threw the rocks. Rock-throwing is a crime that allows the police to enter yards, and therefore the police work was appropriate for this incident."
Sagi said he had no information regarding photographing or other complaints, and that aggrieved parties are free to complain to the Department for Complaints Against Policemen.