ACRI says petition forced end of racial profiling

Organization targets police discrimination against Ethiopians

The police have agreed to end illegal racial profiling they were performing on a Dan bus line that traveled to an Ashkelon hospital, two NGOs announced on Monday, following a High Court of Justice hearing.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel ( ACRI) and Adalah said that their joint petition to the High Court forced the police to alter their tactics on a regular bus that passed through the Barzilai Medical Center complex.

According to ACRI and Adalah, Barzilai security inspected only passengers who “looked like Arabs,” and any Arabs who did not present Israeli citizen identity cards were forced to get off the bus.

They were then allowed back on the bus after it had passed through the entire complex and was exiting the medical center.

A statement by the NGOs said that the state had presented a new security policy to the High Court in a classified hearing in which the petitioners were not present.

However, the NGOs said High Court President Esther Hayut, Justice Uzi Vogelman and Justice Menachem Mazuz rebuked the state for the old policy and convinced the state to remove objectionable aspects of the old policy.

ACRI’s statement said that Hayut did not criticize the state specifically for having used an anti- Arab racial profiling tactic, but that her criticism of the state clearly implied an admission that this had been the issue.

The court spokesman did not publicize a formal High Court decision on the issue, but often the court may not issue a formal decision when the state self- amends an objectionable policy.

Further, ACRI said that the state would need to update the High Court in 90 days to ensure that anti- Arab tactics were not creeping back into security guards’ actions in the field.

Meanwhile,

Sunday the

Israel Bar Association filed a brief to support a petition to the High Court attacking police discrimination against Ethiopians.

The pro- Ethiopian group Tebkah filed the initial petition, but the bar association’s supportive legal brief was expected to increase the chances of the High Court ruling for the petitioners and against police.

According to the petition and the bar association, police have for years been demanding that EthiopianIsraeli citizens produce identification and identify themselves at random times without probable cause of suspicion of a crime being committed.

In contrast, police generally need probable cause to make such demands.

The petition and the bar association say that not only is such initial police action illegal, but that it leads to objections by Ethiopians which then leads to retaliation and escalation by police officials.

Ultimately, the legal brief said that sometimes police end up being the cause that provokes an altercation with an innocent Ethiopian citizen for no particular reason.

The brief cited the report of former Justice Ministry director- general Emi Palmor, which said the police were significantly over- policing Ethiopians and causing unnecessary damage, leading to crimes and conflicts that would not have occurred had the police not stirred up tensions.

In November, thenstate attorney Shai Nitzan announced that a policeman who shot Ethiopian Solomon Tekah earlier in 2019 under questionable circumstances would likely be indicted for negligent manslaughter.

The policeman has been criticized as having unnecessarily increased tensions with Tekah, leading to an escalation and to Tekah’s unjustified killing.

The High Court is due to hear the issue on February 10.