Tel-Chai Nation

In another case of ruining credibility, the Israeli police go and frame a news photographer and commit kidnappings in order to look for scapegoats. (Via Israpundit.)

The case began, from Lerner's standpoint, when one of the photographers on his staff was arrested, at Tuesday morning's anti-expulsion protest outside Kedumim. "The photographer was accused of hitting an army officer of the rank of major," Lerner said. "When I started asking around, however, no one knew of such a case. No one saw any officer get hit, and no one saw this photographer have any physical contact with any security forces. I even asked the IDF spokesperson if there had been such an incident, and they checked and got back to me, and said that after investigating the matter, they had found no evidence of such a case."

Lerner said there was more to the arrest than met the eye: "What happened was that my photographer had been filming a bunch of girl protestors, one of whom was hit by a Yassam policeman and hurt. When the Yassam police saw him filming that incident, they quickly arrested him - in order that there be no evidence of the beating. He saw them coming and took out the film in order to give it to his friend, but it didn't help. They took away his camera, and the film from his friend, and arrested his friend to boot."

As if putting together the pieces of a puzzle, Lerner continued: "To further show that the police are trying to hide evidence, hear this: The girl who was hurt in the demonstration was taken to the hospital - but on Tuesday night, before she was released and before the examinations were completed, the police came in and abducted her. The police claimed that she was officially released, but this is patently untrue. Their goal was simply to avoid having her wounds documented."

The girl's father, Yigal, who lives in Yitzhar, was on the way to the hospital - Petach Tikvah's Schneider Children's Hospital - when he was informed that she had been taken. His story sheds chilling light on the story: "The director of the emergency room called me and said that the police - Officer Golan Yefet - had come to take my daughter Ayalah. He said that he objected and said that she was being examined, but Yefet took her anyway."

How was Ayalah arrested in the first place? Yigal said that she was standing by the demonstration when the policemen fell upon her and beat her. "She is now suffering from bruises in many parts of her body," he said. "Yesterday, the court extended her custody until Friday."

Asked what are the charges against her, he answered sarcastically, "With attacking a police officer, of course. Similar charges, or slightly less serious, have been leveled at the other 3-4 arrestees."

People in Israel are disillusioned with the police because of things like this.

Labels: Israel