Police watchdog to investigate after Border Police allegedly fired gas grenades at protesters during outpost evacuation; settler seriously hurt in the head
Attorney Ronen Haliva on the affair of the game-fixing / Walla system, Shlomo Weiss The Honenu organization filed a complaint today, Wednesday, with the Police Internal Investigations Department against Border Police officers who took part last week in the evacuation of the Tel Talpiyot outpost in Benjamin and fired gas and stun grenades that led to serious injury to one of the residents at the site. In the incident, which took place last Thursday, Border Police forces operated to evacuate the hill where three families live. The decision to carry out the evacuation was made by the army and the Civil Administration following several incidents of friction and violence in the area with Palestinians living near the outpost. Border Police forces that arrived at the scene encountered several dozen young people from the area who had rushed to the outpost after reports of an intention to evacuate it. According to reports, the officers used gas and stun grenades in direct fire at the protesters. As a result, one of the protesters was seriously injured in the face and head after being hit by a gas grenade.
In the complaint submitted to the Police Internal Investigations Department by attorney Eladi Weisel of Honenu, a series of serious offenses by the forces operating at the scene was alleged. In the letter, to which photographs from the scene and correspondence from the medical teams that arrived at the site were attached, attorney Weisel demands an investigation of both the officer who carried out the firing and his commanders on the ground. Tens of young people rushed to the outpost following reports of an intention to evacuate it / Official site, no credit Among other things, it was alleged that last Thursday the settler arrived with his friends at the hill out of concern over an evacuation and demolition of structures there. According to him, he climbed onto the roof of a three-story building that was under construction, alongside dozens of other settlers who sought to protest the demolition. The letter stressed that the roof had no safety railing and that the nature of the protest was entirely passive, while according to the attacked settler there was no violence on the part of those on the roof. It was further claimed that במשך שעות there were no clashes with the forces, and that the police did not issue dispersal orders or use loudspeakers. According to the complaint, after several hours of calm, explosions were suddenly heard, when one of the Border Police officers fired gas grenades toward the building. The complaint alleged that this was "targeted and deadly firing of gas grenades from a launcher in direct fire toward the heads and faces of the dense protesters." According to the complaint filed with the Police Internal Investigations Department, one of the grenades struck the settler forcefully in the face while he was standing near the edge of the roof. As a result, he suffered a deep cut in the cheek, his jaw was broken, and he began to suffer from breathing difficulties following severe bleeding from his nose. The complaint also alleged that civilian medics who were present at the scene provided him with initial treatment, which prevented his immediate death at the site.
It was also reported that even after the injury, the forces prevented medical teams from reaching the wounded man for long minutes. According to attorney Weisel in his complaint to the Police Internal Investigations Department, "the outrageous, criminal and delinquent conduct of the Border Police forces at the scene did not end there, and the fighters added insult to injury." According to him, only after about 50 minutes were the evacuation teams allowed to reach the wounded man, and he was later taken to Beilinson Hospital. Following the incident, the injured man was hospitalized in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department and underwent a complex operation under full anesthesia. Even after his discharge from the hospital, his jaws are fixed and he is fed only soft and liquid food. "A long and complex rehabilitation path still lies ahead of him," the complaint noted regarding his condition due to the firing of the grenades at the settler. According to attorney Weisel, the firing was carried out in violation of police procedures and constituted criminal, wild and reckless conduct by the officer who fired and his commanders on the ground. It was further alleged that firing at a crowded roof without a railing created a real danger to life, and that blocking the path of the medical teams amounts to "criminal offenses of endangerment of life and abandonment." In conclusion, Weisel demands that the Police Internal Investigations Department open an immediate investigation, summon the officer who fired and his commanders for a criminal investigation, seize body cameras and operational documentation materials, and examine whether command authorization was even given to use the most extreme ALEPHA measure, and if so, who authorized it given the severe unsafe conditions prevailing at the scene.
Attorney Weisel said: "The serious incident at Tel Talpiyot Hill is another link in a painful and shocking chain. It is sad and infuriating to see Border Police fighters, who were sent to protect the area's security, becoming completely confused as a result of a false and deliberate media campaign of 'settler violence', and acting against a friend as if he were an enemy." He added that "regrettably, this wrongful confusion translates on the ground into a dangerous escalation of wild and unrestrained violence against settlers: a fighter carried out a direct firing of a gas grenade from a launcher, the most extreme ALEPHA measure that exists, directly at the face of a settler who was standing passively at the edge of a roof without a railing, and afterward the forces blocked the medical evacuation of the bleeding wounded man for about 50 critical and nerve-racking minutes." According to Weisel, the bitter truth is that the settlers' blood has become lawless: "Only by an open miracle, and a few centimeters away from a deadlier and even more severe hit, did the current incident not end in a funeral. If the command system and the Police Internal Investigations Department do not stop this wrongful phenomenon immediately and do not make the boundaries of the law clear to the forces on the ground, we are on the verge of a foreseeable disaster."
The Israel Police said: "As long as the incident is under review by the Police Internal Investigations Department, we are barred from commenting on the details of the incident."
