Israel Police will pay NIS 90,000 to a yeshiva student who
was beaten by Yaakov Shuval, former commander of the Tel Aviv
Police Department, Yarkon region. The incident occurred five
years ago during a licensed demonstration opposite an
excavation site that had a number of graves on Yefet street
in Jaffa. The agreement between the beaten student and the
police received the force of a ruling in the Tel Aviv
Magistrates Court. The yeshiva student was represented by
Attorney Aviezer Ehrlich of Bnei Brak, who filed the civil
suit in the name of the claimant.
In Adar 5755, a police-licensed demonstration was held on 38
Yefet Street in Jaffa. The purpose of the demonstration was
to protest the unearthing of ancient Jewish graves by
archaeologists while the area was being prepared for
construction. The claimant, a yeshiva student from Bnei Brak,
was part of the demonstration, which proceeded in an orderly
fashion, with the demonstrators staying behind police
barricades.
During the demonstration, HaRav Moshe Arye Freund, then
ga'avad of the Eida HaChareidis, arrived. Some of the
demonstrators displaced the barricades and ran towards his
car. Police brutally beat, punched and toppled them. They
then seized a group of demonstrators and threw them into a
police van. A few police officers approached the claimant and
hurled him to the ground. They proceeded to grab him,
dragging him to the truck. He was punched, clubbed and kicked
mercilessly. Deputy Inspector General Shuval arrived on the
scene and also punched the claimant. The youngster lost
consciousness.
Upon regaining consciousness, he found himself on the bottom
of a small hidden cabin in the van. Blood covered his face
and body, and he suffered from intense pain.
The boy lay at the bottom of the van for 45 minutes, during
which time police ignored his pleas for water, an ambulance
and a doctor. The others under arrest began to protest
loudly, while the demonstration organizers demanded that the
police take him for medical treatment.
In a civil suit filed in the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court,
Attorney Aviezer Ehrlich noted, "Deputy Inspector General
Yaakov Shuval instructed the police to take violent measures
against the demonstrators who approached the car of the rav
at a time when circumstances did not mandate such measures .
. . . The defendant cruelly attacked the claimant, beating
and wounding him, without any plausible reason other than a
desire to vent his cruel passions on a helpless, defenseless
minor," the indictment says.
The claimant says that he required medical treatment after
suffering concussion, nausea, and pains throughout his body --
mainly his stomach and head -- and fractured teeth. "Since
the attack, the claimant has suffered from headaches,
nightmares, fears and pains in his teeth. He requires urgent
dental treatment in order to repair the damages," the
indictment adds.
Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court Justice Y. Geva suggested that
the parties settle out of court, noting that if the case is
adjudicated in court and the court concludes that the claim
is justified, the officer in question would be subject to
payment of a steep compensation fee as well as being denied
promotion to senior positions.
At the end of drawn-out negotiations, the claimant's lawyer,
Aviezer Ehrlich, and Marav Niv of the Tel Aviv Regional
Prosecution reached a compromise which has the force of a
verdict. According to the agreement, the State will pay the
claimant NIS 90,0000.
In the past, a number of chareidim have sued Israel Police
for violence perpetrated against them by individual police
officers, and in some cases the victims received compensation
from the State. This, however, is the first case in which
police have been compelled to pay such a steep fine to a
chareidi who was severely beaten. This agreement is likely to
spur other people who have suffered police brutality to
demand compensation in civil court procedures.
