Live Update arrow right icon From the Liveblog of Sunday, June 9, 2024

Lapid establishes police violence ‘documentation center’ after chaos at anti-government protest

By Sam Sokol 9 June 2024, 10:58 am 6 Edit

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during his Yesh Atid party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, June 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during his Yesh Atid party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, June 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid announces the establishment of a “documentation center” for police violence in the wake of an incident last night in which police violently arrested a doctor treating a woman at an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv.

“There is no explanation and it is impossible to accept the photos in which police officers brutally beat and drag away a doctor who is providing treatment in the field, even though he identifies himself as a medical professional,” Lapid writes on X, calling for an investigation into the officers involved.

“This is not Ben Gvir’s police force but that of the citizens of Israel,” he states, referring to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees law enforcement.

Lapid provides an email address to send documentation of police brutality “to make sure that the information is not ‘lost.'”

Widely shared video from last night’s protest in Tel Aviv shows a police officer trying to grab a man wearing an orange emergency vest as he is treating an injured protester. The man, identified by Walla News as Dr. Udi Baharav, pushes her away and is then violently detained by a group of police.

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz and Health Minister Uriel Busso also condemn the incident.

In a statement, Gantz calls for an investigation, emphasizing that the police “must remember that their job is to protect the citizens” and allow demonstrations. Police commanders “should act according to the law and not according to the spirit of the minister,” he says.

Busso echoes Gantz’s call for an investigation, stating that police must “refine their procedures and make sure that what we saw last night does not happen again.”

According to police, 33 protesters were arrested during demonstrations in Tel Aviv yesterday.

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