Large protests for the hostages and against the firing of Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv this week were marked by extensive use of police force, including officers punching and kicking protesters and violent dispersals of groups.
In response to a request for comment, the Israel Police said officers had acted within their authority to disperse protesters who were disrupting public order and working to get around police barricades.
Documentation from protests on Wednesday and Thursday showed police officers throwing protesters to the ground, dragging them on the ground, and pushing them into each other.
One video from Wednesday shared by Violence Israel, an organization that documents violence at protests, showed a group of police officers surrounding a protester lying on the ground, with one of the officers pressing his knee into the man’s neck.
In another video, a man with blood pouring down his face said he had been beaten by police after calling them “criminals in uniforms.”
Police also used a water cannon to fire “skunk” water, a nonlethal method to control crowds. Protesters said the water cannon had injured at least two people.
Yair Golan, leader of The Democrats Party, was thrown to the ground by a police officer at a protest on Thursday outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on Aza Street.
“Don’t worry, I am fine,” Golan wrote on X/Twitter. “After 38 years in the IDF, a few shoves won’t stop me or us. Now we keep fighting; don’t stop for a moment. We will stop the [judicial] overhaul. We will bring back the hostages.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the incident. Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff and opposition party head, should not have been hurt while protesting for Israeli democracy, he said. He called on Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Danny Levi to investigate the incident.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv was also pushed while protesting near the Prime Minister’s Residence, as protesters nearby yelled at the officers that they were pushing an MK.
Also on Wednesday night, protesters near Paris Square in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood blocked people from leaving the protest area, confronted officers who were not wearing name tags, and refused to identify themselves in spite of an obligation to do so.
The Israel Police did not respond to a request for comment on whether this incident would be dealt with and whether officers were told to wear name tags or otherwise identify themselves.
Police filmed punching, kicking protesters
Footage from a Tuesday night protest calling to end the Israel-Hamas War showed multiple instances of police punching and kicking protesters as they attempted to disperse them.
In multiple videos, police can be seen slamming their fists into protesters, kicking them while they are lying on the ground, and stepping on them.
“Jerusalem Police lost their mind,” a Changing Direction protester said, showing her cast to the camera in a video posted to the organization’s X account. “They broke my arm while I was defending another protester they were punching in the face.”
Another protester, Max Kresch, said he had been punched in the groin by an officer attempting to make him move. “They used extreme violence to silence the protesters,” he told Ynet. “Today, I was punched in the balls by a police officer with a face covering who took off his name tag. What kind of man beats another man like that? Police officers brutally beat and kicked nonviolent protesters, and those who were not violent themselves enabled and encouraged it.”
Asked about the footage showing police officers’ violence toward protesters, the Israel Police said the officers had “worked within their authority to move protesters from the road to the sidewalk.”
It did not address whether there would be consequences for officers documented beating protesters and did not respond to a follow-up question of whether punching and kicking is part of an officer’s authority when dispersing protesters.
Asked about whether the police would conduct an internal investigation of officers punching and kicking protesters, the police said: “As far as there are claims regarding the behavior of officers, they are worthy of examination by the authorities authorized for this.”
Addressing the protests generally, the police it would “allow every person the freedom to protest within the boundaries of the law, but will take action against lawbreakers and rioters whose actions harm the public, endanger their own lives and the safety and well-being of pedestrians and the police forces operating in these areas for their benefit.”
There were also other violent incidents at the protests, including an alleged ramming of a protester by a Jerusalem taxi driver on Wednesday night.
“I was run over during the massive protest in Jerusalem against the war and the abandonment of the hostages,” the protester said Thursday. “A taxi driver hit me intentionally, dragged me along [on] his bumper for dozens of meters while speeding, and then threw me onto the ground, where I rolled. I lost consciousness while he fled the scene, and my leg was broken in several places.”
While being detained by police, the protester said, the driver shouted at someone filming him, “Want me to run you over, too?” He was then released at the scene, the protester added.
The protester said he would not give up protesting and would attend future protests on crutches after undergoing surgery.
“I was on the verge of breaking yesterday, but I decided that in such a moment, I must continue,” he said. “I have no choice.”
In another incident on Wednesday, one woman drove very fast down a road despite dozens of protesters walking through the street. She beeped at people to move out of the way and hit them with the side of her car as they shouted at her through the window.
There were additional altercations and arguments between protesters and passersby on Wednesday.
Ariela Ohrenstein contributed to this report.