Israeli Officer Fired for Beating Ethiopian
The Israeli police officer who was caught on video beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier was fired.
Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino made the announcement Wednesday at Netanya Academic College, the Hebrew-language Ynet news website reported.
The dismissal comes two days after a dismissal hearing with police officials.
“He had a lot of arguments, and we had an in-depth discussion on this issue, along with the legal counsel, the discipline department, the attorney general and head of human resources. After the hearing, everyone decided that he should be dismissed from the police,” Danino said.
It is not known what will happen to a second police officer seen in the video, Ynet reported.
The beating was one of the catalysts for Ethiopian-Israeli protests against police brutality and racism that turned violent in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Ethiopian-Israeli activists had called for the officer’s dismissal. The activists also called for the release without charges of the activists arrested last week in Tel Aviv, a demand that Danino rejected.
Ethiopian-Israeli activists will hold another rally in Tel Aviv against racism and police brutality on Monday afternoon, Ynet reported.
On Monday night, several hundred activists held a peaceful rally in Haifa.
“We are a brave generation, members of the Ethiopian community, we are demanding justice for our community and we will not rest until we receive it,” activists wrote on social networks, according to Ynet. The activists called on “every person who believes in equal rights and justice” to attend the Tel Aviv rally.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
