Palestinian allegedly branded by cops with Star of David files police complaint

Arwah Sheikh Ali, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem who claims that Israel Police officers branded his face with a Star of David during a brutal arrest last week, has submitted an official complaint to the Police Internal Investigations Department.

Ali still needs to be examined by a police forensic expert to determine the source of the wound, though law enforcement says it has been in touch with his lawyer.

Police claim the mark on his face was caused by the laced-up part of an officer’s boot against the suspect’s face while they subdued him. The triangle on the face of the suspect seems to match the pattern of the shoelaces in the photo of the arresting officer’s boot provided by police but not a middle-section line in the scar on his face.

At a remand hearing last week, Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Amir Shaked noted that police have no explanation for why the bodycams were not working on all 16 officers who participated in the arrest of the man for suspected drug offenses in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp.