Floyd case: Arab MKs want justice for racist police violence in Israel too

In response to the murder conviction of Derek Chauvin on Tuesday, for killing George Floyd in a racist act, MKs from the Arab Joint List Party spoke up about their thoughts on police violence in Israel. 

"The officer who murdered George Floyd on racial grounds in the United States was convicted of murder last night. In the last two decades, 61 Arab citizens have been murdered in Israel by police, [and] only three police officers have been convicted and given a light sentence," Sami Abou Shahadeh, a Joint List MK tweeted on Wednesday.

After comparing the two countries' treatment of police brutality, Shahadeh called Israel's "Jewish democracy" an apartheid whose police force and government is racist, ending his statement with the expression, "The fish stinks from the head."

השוטר שרצח את ג׳ורג׳ פלויד על רקע גזעני בארה״ב, הורשע אמש ברצח.בשני העשורים האחרונים נרצחו בישראל 61 אזרחים ערבים על ידי שוטרים, רק שלושה שוטרים הורשעו וקיבלו עונש קל.גזענות המשטרה והממשלות בישראל הורגת, ״הדמוקרטיה״ היהודית קרובה יותר לאפרטהייד מאשר לדמוקרטיה.הדג מסריח מהראש.

— Sami Abou Shahadeh (@ShahadehAbou) April 21, 2021

Joint List head Ayman Oden also tweeted: "The policeman who murdered George Floyd was convicted last night in the United States, while in Israel the police continue to protect the killers of Iyad al-Halak and Salomon Taka."

An Israeli police officer mistakenly shot and killed Iyad al-Halakan, an unarmed east Jerusalem special needs resident last May, and was not convicted of murder. Similarly, the policeman who was on trial for the negligent homicide of 19-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli Solomon Tekah has been restored to full-time operational status.

 

"Convicting the killers will be a first step on the path to justice for families, and an end to racist police violence against civilians," Odeh wrote.