Israel: minister slams fine for policewoman who assaulted Palestinian woman 

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has slammed a judge who fined an Israeli policewoman for brutally assaulting a young Palestinian woman in occupied East Jerusalem in 2021.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court fined Oriane Ben Kalifa 4,000 shekels ($1,100) on Tuesday, or spend 40 days in prison. She was also given an eight-month suspended sentence and four months’ probation, reported the Times of Israel. The policewoman was also ordered to pay 2,000 shekels ($550) in compensation to the Palestinian victim, who was 25 years old at the time.

Ben-Gvir, however, slammed the court verdict. “Unfortunately, the judge’s agenda overcame professionalism and the judicial rule that such cases don’t lead to conviction,” he claimed.

The incident took place in November 2021 when the policewoman refused to allow Palestinian Hala Salim to cross an Israeli security checkpoint in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. As the situation developed, the Israeli policewoman attacked the Palestinian woman, choking her and pulling off her headscarf, pulling her hair and shaking her.

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According to Ben-Gvir, the judge’s decision proves that there is a “need for real reform of the judicial system and not a formal reform.”

This was a reference to the controversial judicial reform plan put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The Israeli opposition say that the proposal “aims to weaken the judiciary, especially the Israeli Supreme Court, and turn Israel into a dictatorship.”

Dead men tell no tales, could be Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir’s MO toward Palestinians – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]