Petition filed against Ben Gvir and police operation in Tarabin as ‘collective punishment’

The El Kassum Regional Council has filed a petition to the High Court of Justice against the controversial ongoing police operation in the Bedouin town of Tarabin al-Sana.

The petition asks the court to order the removal of concrete barriers that have been used by the police to seal off the town, as well as an end to heavy-handed police tactics that have seen heavily armed Border Police forces entering homes in the town, making arrests, and using riot control methods such as water cannon, tear gas, and stun grenades during their operations.

Muhammad Hussein Tarabin, a town resident, was allegedly shot dead by an officer at the entrance to his home on Saturday night when the police came to arrest him, an incident that is being investigated by the Justice Ministry’s Department for Internal Police Investigations.

The petition also requests that the court order National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to cease his “showcase visits” to Tarabin, which he has conducted on several occasions since the operation began and which have angered residents.

“The police are carrying out oppressive operations actions in Tarabin, which include placing concrete barriers at the entrance and exit to the town, spot checks on those entering and leaving, closing the town for extended periods of time, including restricting residents’ freedom of movement, stationing police forces on an unprecedented and disproportionate scale within the town, all by way of collective punishment based on a public relations campaign by Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the National Security Ministry,” charges the petition.