Charges against Border Police reservists were dropped for serious acts of violence against an elderly Chareidi man a year and a half ago on Lag B’Omer at Meron.
According to an i24 report, the charges were dropped due to a “procedural error.”
A Border Police officer was filmed forcefully pushing Reb Avraham Kreuzer, an 80-year-old resident of the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, slamming him to the ground. As a result of the violent shove, Rabbi Kreuzer sustained facial injuries and bleeding and was evacuated to a hospital in Tzfas. Another video showed an elderly woman being beaten with a baton and kicked.
At the time, entry to Meron was prohibited under a “closed military zone” order issued by the Northern Command chief. Nevertheless, thousands chose to come, and Israeli police attempted to prevent entry—sometimes using excessive force.
Despite the severe violence, the Internal Police Investigations Department closed the criminal case against the Border Police officers and recommended disciplinary action instead.
However, according to the report, even the disciplinary charges have now been closed since the police disciplinary department did not file the charges on time.
According to the law, a reservist can be subject to disciplinary proceedings only up to 90 days after the end of their reserve duty.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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One Response
Although the actions of this policeman may have been a disgrace, the “procedural error” in this case seems to be that the victim’s fault. As the ToS says “a police disciplinary court canceled the case on a technicality after the prosecution dragged its feet in filing charges against the reservist officers.” I think “DISGRACE” might be a little bit of a stretch. Maybe “SLIGHTLY UNFORTUNATE” would be a more appropriate headline.