Cops and Bedouins: 6 things to know for May 27

1. Accusations of police violence during a weekend traffic stop in a Bedouin town that devolved into a violent confrontation has Israeli media on edge, amid allegations of police brutality toward Arab protesters a week earlier.

• Police say dozens of Rahat residents violently attacked officers Friday night after an unlicensed driver failed to pull over. Officers said the driver sped off and was chased for a short time before being caught. As he was being arrested, a scuffle broke out between bystanders and officers, one of whom was filmed slapping a local man in the face.
• The incident has drawn criticism from Israeli Arabs, who say the violence proves the systemic discrimination against Arabs in Israel. Last week, police arrested 19 Arab protesters at a Gaza solidarity rally in Haifa. One detainee, the head of a civil rights group, said police broke his knee while he was in custody, drawing widespread condemnation from Arab Israelis.
• Yedioth Ahronoth reported that 22-year-old Osma Abu Siam was “surrounded by officers and not endangering anybody, and he was just hit in the face.” Members of the Abu Siam family told Yedioth that their son had nothing to do with the incident, and suffered a brain injury at a work site several years ago, possibly making the cop’s slap to the face more dangerous.
• But Yedioth columnist Yoaz Hendel defended police, arguing that allegations of violence in Rahat were part of a “campaign to politicize the police.” Hendel said any police force “needs legitimacy and authority from the public, otherwise everything collapses.”
• Haaretz columnist harshly criticized Israel for “institutionalizing racial hatred” against Arabs. “It’s frightening to be an Arab in this country,” Iris Leal wrote in Sunday’s paper. “We have reached rock bottom and we are wading through juice of racist garbage; we, who complain about manifestations of anti-Semitism in the world, are the greatest anti-Semites in our country.”

2. A soldier from an elite IDF unit who died over the weekend from injuries sustained during an arrest raid in the West Bank was buried early this morning at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery.

• Israeli newspapers relay eulogies for Ronen Lubarsky by his friends and family. “He was always so stubborn, he always fought tooth and nail for what he wanted, and broke every barrier in his way,” Lubarsky’s brother told Yedioth. “I know that he was willing to die for Israel, and he has indeed sacrificed his soul for her safety.”
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman have vowed to pursue Lubarsky’s killer and “bring justice to Ronen.”

3. Palestinian officials said an Israeli strike has killed three members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group Sunday morning, after the IDF confirmed it targeted its observation post in response to an explosive device placed along the Gaza border.

• Late Saturday night, Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes against Hamas positions in the southern Gaza Strip late Saturday night, following a border breach earlier in the day.

4. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, hospitalized for a week with pneumonia, is in excellent health but no date has been set for his discharge, a Ramallah hospital official said on Saturday.

• “His state of health is excellent but the doctors have not yet decided the date of his release,” said Saed Sarahna, the head of the Istishari Arab Hospital where Abbas is being treated.
• According to the PA’s official news outlet Wafa, the 83-year-old could go home in the coming days, but doctors at the hospital have not confirmed that timeframe.

5. On Saturday, NBC news reported that Israel likely knew that shadowy Israeli intelligence agency Black Cube was hired to undermine the Iran nuclear deal last year.

• A source familiar with Black Cube operations told the news outlet that Black Cube began gathering information on Ben Rhodes, Colin Kahl and other officials days after US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel last May. The source said the undercover campaign was initiated “for Trump,” but there was no evidence directly linking his administration to the agency.
• The source called Black Cube an “almost privatized wing of Mossad,” and said the operation was part of wider efforts to justify Trump’s decision last month to withdraw the US from the deal.

6. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel was taking action against arms manufacturing in Lebanon and threatened continued fighting with Iran.

• “All of these weapons are for use against the State of Israel and it is our right – based on the right of self-defense – to prevent their manufacture or transfer.”
• Netanyahu’s threat against Lebanon came after Israeli officials have warned repeatedly that Iran may be trying to manufacture advanced missiles in Lebanon to be used against Israel by its proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist group.