Border Police filmed beating East Jerusalem Arab and his mother
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Border Police filmed beating East Jerusalem Arab and his mother

Omar Hendi, who works as security guard on Jerusalem light rail, says officers attacked him when he couldn’t show his ID card; police say he cursed and threatened them

By TOI staff 14 January 2020, 2:28 am 6 Edit
Border Police seen beating an Arab East Jerusalemite, who works as a security guard for the Jerusalem light rail, in East Jerusalem (Screencapture / Channel 13, January 13, 2019)
Border Police seen beating an Arab East Jerusalemite, who works as a security guard for the Jerusalem light rail, in East Jerusalem (Screencapture / Channel 13, January 13, 2019)

Border Police guards violently beat an East Jerusalem Arab resident after he couldn’t show them his identity document, in an incident that was caught on security cameras, Channel 13 reported Monday.

Omar Hendi, who works as a police-licensed security guard on the Jerusalem light rail, left his home in the Shuafat refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem to go and buy food last week at a nearby restaurant when he was stopped by several officers.

In the film, the officers approach and talk to him. After several minutes one of them manhandles Hendi across the road and pushes him up against a wall and three of the soldiers begin beating and kicking him.

Four officers stood by and watched.

“I told them that I don’t have my ID on me, I left it at home. The soldier said he did not believe me and grabbed me by the shirt,” Hendi told Channel 13. “Then everyone started hitting me.”

Hendi showed the bruises on his face and cuts on his arms and legs from the beating, and said the police were “racist.”

Hearing the shouts, Hendi’s mother rushed out to try and help him and was knocked to the floor by the border police.

Hendi’s lawyer, Abed Dawarsha, said that his client was lucky because the incident was caught on camera. “There are many, many incidents like this that we do not see,” he said.

Police told Channel 13 that Hendi had cursed the officers, “threatened to slaughter them,” and resisted arrest.

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