Should Israeli Police Enter the Haram A-Sharif?

Why not?

Their task is to uphold the peace and protect public order, to prevent riots and harm/injury being caused by miscreants.

The Ottomans did it.

So did the British, as the explained in 1939:

Did Israeli Police Shoot Another Arab Dead?

No.

The police in Pennsylvania did, though:-

A man wielding two handguns was shot and killed at a Walmart in Pennsylvania, authorities said.The man walked into the store in Stroudsburg late Saturday night and started pointing a gun at people, Pennsylvania State Police said.Stroud Area Regional Police were called to the scene. Officers arrived and told the man to drop his gun, but he refused and pointed his weapon at police, authorities said.Officers shot the man in the upper chest area. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

And he hadn't yet used it, either. 

Lessons to be learned.

^

We Warned Them

“We have identified a group of women that is being paid to go to the Temple Mount and commit provocative acts. This group has been barred from the Old City."

That was the acting national police commissioner Bentzi Sau speaking at a special session of the Knesset Interior Committee on Tuesday.

Below, in its Hebrew original, is a letter sent to Jerusalem's then police commandant on June 20th. In the year 2013.  Besides myself, it is also signed by Yehudah Glick, Aviad Visouli, Chaim Odem, Prof. Hillel Weiss and several others - all veteran Temple Mount activists.

The letter warns the police of the phenomenon of what I termed the Wicked Witches of the Waqf but who refer to themselves as the Mouribatat (the men are the Mouribatoun).  We suggested several security entrenching steps including

a.  strengthening the police/borderpolice unit at the Temple Mount;

b.  additional checking measures at all the gates like those at the Mohgrabi Gate;

c.  punishing miscreants by refusing them entry;

d.  a clear message of warning to the Waqf;

e.  proper security measures for all visitors.


Did the police take our suggestions into consideration?  Perhaps.  Did they apply them?

No.

The letter:

We warned them.

^

A Week Has Passed - How Many Arrested?

A week has passed since the attack on the young children visiting the Temple Mount last week.

How many Muslims were arrested?

Let's assist the police.  Here are some of them:

and some more:

Nu? How many?

Ask.

Ask the Minister of Internal Security.

Ask the National Commander.

Ask the Jerusalem District Commander.

Ask the Temple Mount Unit.

Ask the Prime Minister.

Ask any other Minister, especially the Justice Minister.

Ask Members of Knesset.

Ask the Chairwoman of the Knesset's Interior Committee.

Ask the Public Complaints Commissioner.

^

In (Oiy!) Praise of Self-Restraint

In A distinguished police, Dan Margalit writes about the police behavior during this Passover week.

They closed the Temple Mount to all non-Muslims because they allowed fanatic, violent and extremist Muslim forces to infiltrate the Mount, hole up in Al-Aqsa and collect lethal stones,

(updated new one:

and those didn't come from the police)

waving Hamas, etc. flags and banners

(you notice the souvenir police shield?)

and another now updated:

and when the violence started, could barely contain it and didn't stop it.  And in response, instead of telling the Waqf officials that the Mount was off limits for a week due to the violence and instead of charging those few arrested according to the Law for the Protection of the Holy Places, they closed the Temple Mount to entry off all non-Muslims.

The logic of the Israel Police, the Minister and the Prime Minister.

What does Margalit think about all this?

Excerpts:-

Violent clashes at the Temple Mount and the Western Wall area go back to the early days of the conflict. The Holy Basin set the region ablaze on multiple occasions, even before the Arabic word intifada (popular uprising) became a household name in Israel...And this week rocks were hurled on visitors, for the umpteenth time. This will undoubtedly happen again.

This place...represents the heart of the conflict...The Muslims on the mountain have never missed an opportunity to instigate violence. The police, however, refused to be provoked this week, despite the barrage of rocks they sustained. They stood there, without being drawn in. This is what I call extreme self-discipline. Such restraint and forbearance is almost unbearable for a human being...The police made a wise decision by holding fire...The police's conduct serves Israel well. Israel wants the world to see it can accommodate all faiths in the area and wants to make sure things remain in control...The security forces at the Temple Mount should be awarded a citation, each and every one of them. As Pirkei Avot says, a hero is someone who knows how to hold back. I can't think of a better manifestation of that adage.

There is no need for lethal response.

As I noted, an ounce of prevention would have halted all this.

A close-down would be punishment enough. 

The police, to prevent Jews from entering, claim they have 'intelligence' that indicates provocations and danger but it seems they had nothing, because they were looking at the Jews, not the Muslims. They blind-sided themselves.  They were worried what King Abdallah II would say, not what Israel's laws read.

They yielded to violence.

That is something not to be very proud about.

Self-restraint can be self-destructive.

^

And The Arrested Are Released

The arrests last week of youngsters suspected of "price tag" activity was prominently reported.

Well, the developments are:

Again – Price Tag Suspects Released

The Israel Police's National Unit for Investigation of Serious and International Crime (known by its Hebrew acronym Yachbal) has failed once again in substantiating charges against people it suspects of carrying out so-called "price tag" actions.

On Sunday, the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court released unconditionally two girls suspected of vandalizing IDF vehicles in the Binyamin Brigade base in Bet El. The Honenu NGO, which assists Jews suspected of nationalist crimes, reported that Yachbal investigators asked Judge Oded Shacham to extend the girls' remand by eight days but he refused to do so.  The girls were represented by Honenu lawyer Ariel Atari.

Meanwhile, Judge Shacham extended the remand of a soldier who is also suspected of "price tag" actions. Police asked to extend his incarceration for 8 days, but the judge only granted 4 days' remand.  The soldier told the court that the investigators have been denying him meals, and abusing him physically and mentally.

Now, the question is 'why were they arrested'?

After all, the girls were all arrested and interrogated previously. Was there new information? Did they decide to use harsher methods of investogation?

Or, faced with criticism for lack of results, and to cover their inability to act professionally, they decided to simply redo what they did before for the press and the public?

I am not sure who is guilty - and anyone may be guilty - but the point is that everyone is sure than a certain element must be guilty and they are to be pursued so that the entire camp may be stained. The police are puppets of the media instead of the correct job according to procedures that we expect they do. They should perform as police and not as servants of the critics of the nationalist-right.

^

Guess Who Is Firing Rubber Bullets?

Not Israei police.

Not in the disputed territories.

Nope.

United States police.

In Los Angeles.

Reported that riot police fired rubber bullets at a huge crowd of young ravers rioting on Hollywood Boulevard. The youngsters threw bottles and set fire to cars after being denied entry to a Hollywood film première.  The unruly crowd began partying on the streets in protest and when they refused to disperse, officers took drastic action.

Details:

Crowds spilled into the street around Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, with some people throwing bottles at police. Witnesses said others were dancing on a police car, taunting officers and "planking" — lying down in the street. There were also sporadic fights among people in the crowd.

Police in riot gear shut down streets around the theater, and dozens of other officers in police cruisers responded to the disturbance.

Photos: Disturbance outside the Hollywood film premiere

"I knew it was going to get out of hand when they started taunting the police," said Adam Bloch, 20, who works in a building across from the theater. "They were asking for it."

There were no reports of injuries or property damage. But by early evening, a row of riot police with masks and batons were pushing against the crowd. Police also fired beanbags to disperse people.

Late in the evening, the LAPD set up a mobile field jail at the scene. At least two people were arrested on felony vandalism charges.

Terrible.

And America is a democracy.

Wait, in a democracy you can do such things?

Now they tell us?

^

The Illustrated Manual for Police Brutality

The New York Times is not usually a favorite of those of us who are, well, addicted to the news.

But there is always something to be thankful for, everyday. Like this picture which the paper used today:



It was taken by Sebastain Scheiner of the AP and is used here in an illustrative purpose.

It displays "Lesson #53" in the (fictitious) Police Manual for Methods of Applying Brutality.

Lesson #53 reads: "while your colleague(s) subdue a protestor, raise your right arm to his/her head level, take a step forward with your left foot, pretend to accidentally stumble, thus causing you to take a brisk and firm step forward with your right foot, thus causing your upraised right elbow to effectively smash into the protestors face. With any luck, you can even break his/her nose or at the very least, his/her glasses".

Other lessons:

#42 - When gently leading a protestor away, hold his/her hand in both of your and firmly press the his/her fingers together. With luck, you may crush a digit.

Like this:



and Lesson #77 - When carrying a demonstrator away, especially female, have two officers grab one leg each and then slowly separate as walking away.

Like this:



I found another legs version here:



And Maneuver #28, Twist Arm While Pressing Out Elbow here:-



Welcome to the Israeli Police, those guardians of civil rights and liberties.

The Weakness & Hesitancy Seep Down

Police officers on Tuesday criticized the results of the initial investigation into last week's terror attack at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, in which eight students were killed, as presented by Jerusalem District Police chief Aharon Franco to senior commanders on Monday.

...An officer who attended Monday's meeting said Tuesday that that the incident report raised questions about its timeline, from the terrorist's entry into the yeshiva until his death.

...Franco was unable to explain whether Shapira got the hat from the patrol officer or perhaps from a second officer, a detective who was at the scene but who, like the patrol officer, also declined to confront the terrorist.

The behavior of the patrol officer, who waited at the yeshiva entrance while the terrorist continued to shoot at the students, was criticized by the officers at the meeting. "Franco said the officer explained that he preferred to 'freeze the situation,' in police lingo, to prevent civilians from entering," one officer said. "But the officer's approach was simply wrong and unprofessional. If civilians are being shot inside the yeshiva, an officer can't stand outside and not go in. It is unacceptable for a police officer to behave in that manner during a terror attack," he said.

Source

NEWS FLASH: Three Arrested

Three activists for the Sukkot "Establish 5 New Communities" Campagin were arrested this morning at Chashmonaim.

They possessed flyers and orange colored caps.

Hebrew release here.

In Defense

A lot of nationalist-thinking, right-wing bloggers and other web site editors in Israel and abroad have come down very heavy against Israeli policemen. WEith, admittedly, much justification.

As far as I know, though, they aren't as bad as this policeman in San Francisco:-

Rookie cop who shot himself to death at party was intoxicated

A San Francisco rookie police officer who shot himself to death during a late-night gathering at his San Mateo apartment was legally drunk, toxicology tests show.

Officer James Gustafson Jr., 23, had a blood alcohol level of 0.09 percent - slightly above the 0.08 limit for legally driving a car - when he shot himself Aug. 11, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said today.

Gustafson shot himself in the neck at 1:40 a.m. during a gathering of as many as 15 people, as he was showing a woman how police are taught to prevent someone from using a gun against them, authorities said.

...According to those familiar with the incident, Gustafson was showing the woman his Police Department-issued semiautomatic pistol after removing the magazine that stores the rounds. However, there was still a round in the chamber.

Gustafson pointed the weapon at his neck and pulled the trigger, shooting himself, according to authorities.

Good for Orit

Orit Struck heads the Organization for Human Rights in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Read how she has been showing up the police as a bunch of imbeciles, not to mention engaged in illegal activities and disobeying the courts.

The police broke a promise to the High Court of Justice by allowing an officer who is on trial for allegedly assaulting a demonstrator to participate in the deployment near the Mughrabi Gate in Jerusalem's Old City earlier this week, the Organization for Human Rights in Judea, Samaria and Gaza charged Thursday.

The organization, headed by Orit Strock, petitioned the High Court of Justice, charging that the police were in contempt of court after they had informed it in April that they had barred the policeman, Ch.-Supt. Yehiel Amsalem, 9 (see hear for a Hebrew language report and pics of the dear fellow) from any contact with the public and put him in command of a police operations center.

Amsalem is on trial in Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on charges of kicking a protester and breaking his jaw. The incident occurred on May 16, 2005, during an anti-disengagement demonstration at the entrance to Jerusalem.

...The police replied that they did not have sufficient manpower to suspend him. However, it informed the court on April 11 that it was transferring Amsalem to a desk job that did not involve contact with the public.

The petitioners charged that on February 12, Amsalem was photographed near the Mughrabi Gate with other police officers. They were allegedly waiting for a visit to the area by members of the Israeli Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, who were scheduled to meet Wakf officials. There were Arab and Jewish demonstrators nearby and the situation could have led to violent clashes, Struck and her lawyer, Mordechai Minzer, charged.

And she even proved that she was effectively protecting Arabs. How many lefties can claim that?