The Ynetio Ahronot news portal Ynet reported on Friday that police beat a Jewish lawmaker who protested in favor of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The police beat him, pulled him from the crowd, broke his glasses and tore his shirt in front of the legislature, Ofer Qasif, who came as the Jewish representative of the Hadas Communist Party in the Joint List of Arab Parties in third place on the party’s list in the March 23 elections.
Several videos posted on the Internet testified that he was pushed and beaten by the police and then bulldozed and abused while showing his solidarity with Arabs in the Segek Gara residential area in East Jerusalem. His wounds were treated in an ambulance at the scene.
Police claimed that Kasif attacked a police officer and did not identify himself, so they did not know that they were facing a member of parliament, but they promised to investigate the case.
For years, Arab residents of this populated Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem have been protesting the expansion of Jewish settlers who are buying homes there or buying homes through other legal channels.
Right-wing and left-wing politicians condemned the violent policing. On the right, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Griff Levin, a Likud politician, next to him is Baikalil Szemotrix, the head of the far-right party of religious Zionists, and on the left is Nikan Horowitz, the leader of the liberal Merrick party. Mansour Abbas, the leader of the traditional Islamic Arab party, Minister of Homeland Security Amir Ohana called for justice to be done with perfect punishment, MTI wrote
