$18K Raised for Israeli Arab Beaten by Police
Maisam Abu Alqian Image by YouTube
TEL AVIV — An organization advocating Jewish-Arab coexistence has raised more than $18,500 in a crowdfunding drive for a Bedouin Israeli who was beaten by off-duty police officers.
The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality began after Maisam Abu Alqian, 19, a Bedouin student from southern Israel, was beaten outside a Tel Aviv Burger King, where he worked, by plainclothes border policemen.
In the incident, which was caught on video, the policemen asked Abu Alqian to show his identification and began beating him when he refused. The policemen have claimed that Abu Alqian violently resisted arrest, a claim he and bystanders dispute.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the fundraising page of the Coexistence Forum had raised nearly double its goal of roughly $10,000 to pay for Abu Alqian’s legal fees. $20,000, according to the page, would cover all of the costs involved and help him pay for his studies.
“I thank all the donors from my heart,” Abu Alqian said in a statement on the fundraising page. “Now I know what help is. I’m waiting to utilize my rights and bring back my honor. I hope what happened to me will lead to a change in the law, so policemen will not be able to beat civilians.”
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
