Eyewitnesses, videos appear to indicate illegal and violent Israeli police conduct at Umm al-Fahm protest
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority in Israel filed a complaint with the Israeli Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) on 30 March 2021 against police officers suspected of assaulting participants in a protest in Umm al-Fahm roughly a month prior, on 26 February 2021.
Adalah filed the complaint on behalf of Knesset Yousef Jabareen (Hadash /Joint List), Umm al-Fahm Mayor Dr. Samir Subhi Mahamid, and three other demonstrators.
In the complaint, Adalah Attorney Wesam Sharaf presented a series of eyewitness testimonies and videos that indicate serious suspicions of illegal conduct by Israeli police forces that resulted in the wounding of dozens of protesters, including one man who suffered serious wounds and required head surgery.
The sequence of events documented in dozens of videos taken by protesters both at ground level as well as from aerial drones appears to indicate that police commanders issued orders to forcefully disperse the demonstration before it even began.
Videos also document Israeli officers attacking demonstrators with unreasonable, disproportionate force and potentially life-threatening weapons.
CLICK HERE or below to view drone footage of the protest
After Friday prayers, protesters in Umm al-Fahm began to march towards the city's main entrance, carrying 21 mock coffins symbolizing the number of people murdered in Arab communities. Police forces, accompanied by a "skunk" water cannon truck, which contains a foul-smelling liquid, awaited the procession close to the city's entrance. The "skunk" water cannon opened fire just minutes after the protest started.
Police forces also fired stun grenades at protesters in this initial barrage.
In a subsequent incident, videos depict police forcefully dispersing a group of protesters peacefully chanting and applauding near the city's entrance
These videos show Israeli undercover forces targeting individual protesters and beating them along with other police officers. It also appears that Israeli officers employed close-quarters firing of tear gas and stun grenades. These shootings resulted in the severe wounding of an individual who later required surgery on his head.
CLICK HERE or below to watch the video
In addition to the shooting and physical violence on the part of Israeli officers that resulted in the wounding of dozens of protest participants, an officer struck the mayor of Umm al-Fahm in the face with the butt of his assault rifle, and MK Jabareen was hit by crowd dispersal weapons.
Israeli police also used disproportionate force in the arrests of four individuals, one of whom lost consciousness when he was tased in the neck by an Israeli officer – in contravention of regulations governing police use of tasers.
CLICK HERE or below to watch a video of these incidents
The affidavits attached to Adalah's PID complaint paint a picture of participants in a legitimate, legal, non-violent protest who were brutally attacked and wounded by Israeli police officers. Adalah therefore demands the PID investigate the offenses.
Adalah also demands investigations into senior Israeli police commanders responsible for the handling of the Umm al-Fahm protest and who issued orders to officers on the scene.
CLICK HERE to read the complaint and affidavits [Hebrew]
Adalah Attorney Wesam Sharaf commented:
