Israel Police Commander Pushes Boycott of Supermarket Where Cops Brutally Beat Arab Worker
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A senior officer in the Israeli police’s media department on Wednesday appeared to call for a boycott of a Tel Aviv grocery chain whose employee was brutally beaten by cops earlier in the week.
Chief Inspector Sharon Yamincha, the head of Israel Police’s new media department, used his personal Facebook account to post an image of a Super Yuda storefront with text saying “I don’t shop at a supermarket whose employees beat cops” and “shaming inc.” In the status update, Yamincha qualified the image as viral conent from social media. Yamincha primarily uses his private Facebook account to share posts relevant to the police, including articles about senior officials and public relations content.
The post received hundreds of likes and was shared dozens of times, including by other senior officers in the police’s media department. The post also received mostly positive comments by police officers.
“They took a despicable individual who attacked a police officers, raised money for him and turned him into a victim,” one person wrote. “This piece of trash needs to sit in prison.”
The Israel Police said that Yamincha wasn’t responsible for creating the image. The officer “shared the picture as a viral item without identifying with it or agreeing with its content,” a spokesperson for the police said, asserting that the image was created by a private individual who isn’t linked and doesn’t represent the police.
The spokesperson further stressed that the post was shared on the officer’s private account and does not reflect an official position. “Once he realized that it’s inappropriate for him to share such content, he removed it immediately,” the police said.
On Sunday, police officers were caught on video beating an Arab employee of a Super Yuda branch in central Tel Aviv.
According to witnesses, the police officers attacked Maysam Abu Alqian, 19, unprovoked. The officers claim he assaulted them first. The incident is under a police internal investigation probe.
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