All Cops Are Bastards

Be careful watch out for the gangbangers.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/manhunt-underway-for-former-police-chief-imprisoned-for-murder-and-rape/

All Corgis Are Bastards

Experts on antisemitism and civil liberties say the training reinforces a police culture that treats Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims more broadly) with suspicion, while doing little to curb antisemitism. “They are actively conflating any care for Palestinian humanity or rights—and in some cases, Palestinian existence itself—with antisemitism,” said Dove Kent, the US senior director for Diaspora Alliance, a group that fights antisemitism and its weaponization. “None of this does anything to increase Jewish safety.”

Instead, the trainings serve to worsen a situation where “law enforcement is on the front lines of violent anti-Palestinian repression—beating student protesters, surveilling them, and raiding them both on and off campus,” said Dylan Saba, a staff attorney at Palestine Legal (and a contributing editor for Jewish Currents). “With this training, police are being fed a description of pro-Palestinian students that, merely on the basis of their political expression, categorizes them as a security threat.” (The NYPD, the New York City mayor’s office, CAM, and POE did not return requests for comment.)

Video.

Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Chavi Toker approved the warrant for the raid on the bookshop despite the fact that the Police never sought permission from the prosecution, which is required by law to open an investigation into suspected incitement.

Hence at the bail hearing they changed their suspicions to "undermining the public's safety" The most damning evidence they produced was a colouring book for children "From the River to the Sea,"

Although another Magistrate's Court judge, Gad Ehrenberg, rejected the police's request to keep Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna in gaol for 8 days he decided to keep them in jail for another day so police could continue their investigation. This despite the illegality of the whole operation.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Eli Abravanel reprimanded the police for not obtaining permission to open an incitement investigation, but still allowed the decision to keep the two men in gaol for 2 days. After all they are Palestinians, so what is there to complain of?

Protesters outside court in Jerusalem on Monday. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

Ha’aretz, which the Police also took exception to, commented in an editorial:

Due to the police's aggressive and undemocratic behavior and the judges' cowardice or naïveté, Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna spent two nights in jail. This is even more absurd given the fact, which emerged following their release on Tuesday, that the police never even bothered questioning them again, despite keeping them in jail.

The bookshop however isn’t an anonymous back street shop.

There is no diplomat, journalist or scholar of Jerusalem who isn't familiar with the store and its intellectual treasures. Evidence of this is the fact that the bail hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court was attended by diplomats from nine countries, plus the European Union.

Mahmoud Muna inside a branch of the Educational Bookshop chain in July 2024. Photograph: Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Ha’aretz’s editorial observed that

The raid and the arrests show how deeply the rot has propagated within the police and the legal system. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara must tell the police that their behavior was illegal, and that if they want to open an incitement investigation, they can find thousands of calls for mass murder, obliterating the Gaza Strip, starvation and many other incitements for war crimes on social media, in interviews with politicians and in rabbis' sermons.

Which entirely misses the point of course. Incitement to violence and death against Palestinians is not a crime [under apartheid] but any manifestation of Palestinian identity, culture or history is a crime. That is why Israel today is a fully-fledge police state as far as Palestinians are concerned, even for those who are Israeli citizens.

The Be'er Sheva District Court approved the police's request to extend the detention of activist Andrei Khrzhanovsky, who filmed himself placing a Palestinian flag sticker near a memorial honoring a fallen soldier in the [...] city of Sderot.

The decision on Sunday followed a ruling by the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court on Friday to release him under restrictive conditions, but police had requested a delay in his release.

In the appeal filed by the police, it was argued that his detention should be extended because he might "pose a risk to public safety."

As a result, despite the earlier decision to release him, Khrzhanovsky will remain in custody longer than initially requested by the police.

District Court Judge Yaakov Danino criticized the decision of Judge Sabine Cohen from the Ashkelon court, who ruled that the police had failed to present evidence that the sticker placement posed a public safety risk, as stated in the arrest extension request.

Judge Cohen noted, "An expression of opinion is just that – an expression of opinion. It must be treated as such. This is the essence of democracy and freedom of expression."

Khrzhanovsky was arrested on Thursday at a café in Tel Aviv after he recorded himself attaching the sticker bearing the Palestinian flag. The officers arrested him aggressively, claiming he had attacked them upon their arrival.

Footage obtained by Haaretz shows Khrzhanovsky resisting the arrest, but he asserts his resistance was due to the violence of the police.

Danino emphasized the alleged assault on the officers, stating, "Anyone who dares to raise their hand against law enforcement officers entrusted with maintaining public order and safety undermines the most basic conventions of a democratic society."

On Sunday, the police confirmed that Khrzhanovsky's arrest was partly due to a request from Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf. Haaretz also learned that police commissioner Danny Levy's office exerted pressure to carry out the arrest.

Khrzhanovsky had filmed himself two weeks ago placing the sticker near the memorial for Captain Shilo Cohen, who was killed in battle in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, 2023.

In the arrest extension request, the police stated that he was suspected of vandalizing public property and engaging in behavior that could disrupt public peace.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/23219665

from #TheIntercept
Akela Lacy
December 3 2024, 7:33 p.m.

Australian police stopped a man because his car had 'anti-Semitic' material on the window. When the driver queried what the anti-Semitic material was, the dejected-looking officer replied 'the small watermelon'. The incident is emblematic of how solidarity with Palestine is policed in countries like Australia, the U.S. and Europe, where the individuals tasked with enforcing the law often have very little knowledge about Gaza, Palestine or Israel.

German police beat a Gaza solidarity protester unconscious and then denied a medical team access to treat them. Protesters gathered in Berlin to highlight the plight of women in Gaza, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

“Israel has not achieved any of its declared aims, either in Gaza in Lebanon in, in Iran or anywhere else,” Bresheeth said in his speech.

“What has it achieved? Murder, mayhem, genocide, racism, destruction, this is what they’re good at,” Bresheeth said. “But they cannot fight the resistance, they have lost every single time.

“They cannot win against Hamas, they cannot win against Hezbollah, they cannot win against the Houthis. They cannot win against the united resistance to the genocide they have started.”

The police spokesperson said that the force is engaged in a “constant balancing act” and that it was acting to “prevent intimidation and serious disruption to communities.”

Bresheeth was released without charge on 2 November, after spending a night in custody, but remains under investigation.

The Jewish academic's arrest follows a series of raids and arrests targeting pro-Palestinian activists and journalists under anti-terror legislation.

In October, counter-terrorism police raided the home of journalist Asa Winstanley as part of an investigation under the Terrorism Act into his social media activity.

On 15 August, journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under section 12 of the Terrorism Act on arrival in the UK, allegedly in connection with his reporting on Palestine.

Less than two weeks later, pro-Palestine journalist Sarah Wilkinson was arrested by masked counter-terrorism police in a dawn raid on her home for allegations relating to content she had posted online.

Any use of force by police, especially deadly force, was entirely unprovoked. During her conversation with police, Massey got up to move a pot of boiling water off of the stove. Sean Grayson, the white racist cop who killed her, falsely claimed that she “came at him with boiling water”.

This was a blatant lie, as the bodycam shows her place the boiling water on the counter as instructed, and she was shot a split second later. Police continued to yell “drop the pot” after she had already done so.

Grayson, who killed her, also did not turn his bodycam on until after the killing occurred, so the only footage available is the angle from the other cop that was present. The two cops then stood around while she lay bleeding on the floor, refusing to render medical aid.

The police can be heard on the footage saying, “I’m not even gonna waste my medical stuff on her.” Not one bit of remorse or concern for her was shown by any member of the sheriff’s department in the half hour that followed the killing.

Grayson was fired and indicted on charges of murder by the Illinois grand jury, but this can hardly be considered justice. He had previous DUI convictions and has worked for at least six different police departments just since 2020.

If this were an issue of “bad apples” and not a whole rotten racist system, Grayson would never have been given a badge and gun in the first place. These killings would not be a daily occur[e]nce. Yet thousands of Black people, including those with disabilities like Massey, meet the same fate at the hands of the police.

Police in the U.S. treat Black people with the same dehumanization and ruthlessness that the [Imperialist] Occupation Forces subject Palestinians to. Both U.S. and [neocolonial] police as well as military forces operate as colonial occupying armies in colonized communities. Both commit unfathomable acts of violence on camera for the world to see, with little to no accountability.

Indictment is not enough. Justice can only look like a wholesale dismantling of the racist police and prison system as a bare minimum.

Cohen was covering a spontaneous protest that took place outside Likud headquarters on Saturday night after the conclusion of the scheduled rallies on Kaplan Street and Hostages' Square. A crowd of several hundred demonstrators gathered in the street, encircling a large metal box in which a fire burned underneath the words "No home." Police eventually used horses and physical force to disperse the crowd.

[…]

In addition to several violent arrests, protesters have sustained injuries from police-mounted horses and water cannons. Journalists and medical personnel have been subject to the same treatment as well, despite their protected status.

The past couple of weeks have seen the arrest of one doctor as he was administering medical treatment to a demonstrator, and another who suffered an eye injury as a result of a direct hit from a water cannon. Last week, Haaretz photographer Itai Ron was arrested while taking photos of the protest.

On Sunday, [Herzlianism’s] Public Defender's Office condemned what it called "widespread" excessive use of force by [neocolonial] police against protesters and called for the department of the Justice Ministry responsible for investigating police misconduct to address the issue.

The office released a statement saying that the violence evident in footage taken during anti-government protests "wounds the body and soul and tramples human rights," and that it "harms every part of [this] society and results in loss of trust in law enforcement."

Neocolonial police terrorizing a Jewish man in a wheelchair.

Neocolocial officer pushes a Jewish elder to the ground. He suffered a bloody face.

Neocolonial police push a Jew towards a fence.

Police forcing a Jewish man to lie down on the ground.

Police raiding the Mea Shearim Jewish neighborhood, physically abusing Jews and intimidating nearby witnesses.

Photograph of an officer literally dragging around a Jew.

Another.

And yes, in most of these videos you can hear the witnesses yelling ‘Nazi!’ at their oppressors. A couple of years ago it would have been startling to hear anybody—especially a Jew—liken Zionism’s neocolony to the Third Reich, but I think that the extermination campaign has really broken the taboo now.

Truly unfortunate. I propose an additional $50 million funding in police training will prevent such mishaps in the future.

Workers World spoke with encampment participant Nada Anusi, one of the students arrested May 10, who said: “On Friday morning, at about 5:30 am, we were woken from our sleep by the police with only two minutes left to gather our things and leave. While we anticipated a raid, especially in the early morning when community support and publicity there would be minimal, we did not want to leave the camp we built.

“The Ben Franklin statue [on UPenn Campus Green] became a site of resistance for students and campers. We all stood proud and strong as we watched hundreds of police storm the campus with wooden batons and riot gear. We knew what we were up against, and we were ready to face it, but the disproportionality of over 100 cops to 33 protesters was a disgusting view from the top of Ben Franklin.”

Anusi explained: “We were pulled off the statue by the cops, held tightly, zip tied and warned not to resist. Some of us were thrown onto the ground and dragged away, with bruised and dislocated shoulders. I was double-cuffed, patted down three times, shoved around, and violated in many ways. Despite that, the most upsetting part was watching UPenn police and the Philadelphia Police Department work together with the administration to take an entire encampment and shove it down a compactor.

“So much that was built, and from scratch, was destroyed. It was very wasteful. Very disturbing and an eerie reflection of what goes on at other encampments. For a minute, I imagined what it was like to be in Occupied Palestine and watch my family home get demolished with all the memories and life I put into it still there. It is not exactly comparable. I have a home to go to. But this was a place for me, as a Palestinian, to truly feel in community with those struggling alongside me.

Anusi concluded: “I participated in this encampment because I reached a point where my entire life is re-centered [on] Gaza. I live and breathe for Palestine and if that means I have to make all the noise in the world and continue to build while they destroy, then so be it. It is the least I can do. As an academic, the university serves as a proxy for my class struggle, for this anti-colonial struggle. More than 40,000 [people] martyred with all [their] universities destroyed, and it is about time we recognize our privilege in the belly of the beast and continue our global uprising.”

Even before they had finished with their mass arrests at Columbia, the cops sent significant numbers a mile or so north to CCNY. When they had what they considered enough force, they started to sweep the CCNY campus, arresting 179 people both on and off the campus. (Columbia Spectator, May 1) According to a May 1 morning press release posted to the CUNY “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” Instagram, the New York Police Department sweep resulted in multiple injuries.

“Police broke the ankle of an undergraduate student, broke the teeth of two protesters, attacked and burned many students, faculty and at least one journalist with pepper spray at close range, and beat many more with batons,” the news site City News reported.

When students, heartsick over genocide occurring before their eyes, confront established state policy, they get treated with the same police brutality, similar to their counterparts in Gaza.

Annelise Orleck, a 65-year-old Jewish professor at Dartmouth University, was floored twice by aggressive police officers who took away her phone while she was standing with pro-Palestinian student activists.

Orleck told reporters she felt unsafe on campus as a Jewish person but not because of her students, 'because police lifted me up and body slammed me, then arrested me'. She has now been banned from the Dartmouth campus, where she has worked for 34 years, under the terms of her bail conditions.

…wow.

Interview with the victim.

Within minutes, the Berlin police stormed the conference and forced the 250 attendees to disband. The police shut off the building’s electricity and demanded that the organizers stop livestreaming on their phones. Protests erupted in the surrounding streets, and riot police blocked and encircled the protest with vehicles. Many demonstrators were arrested.

The German state’s actions in suppressing this event and the subsequent protests have a precedent and represent an alarming trend in Germany and indeed in many [neo]imperialist states which use various instruments of state power to quash pro-Palestinian voices.

German authorities, as a pretext to justify their overreach, accuse activists like those connected with the Palestine Congress of being “antisemitic.” While German history dating from the […] Third Reich and prior antisemitism justifies the existence of laws against Nazi-type hate speech, the German state has distorted this justification and turned it into repression directed at anyone criticizing the repressive actions of [Zionism’s] state, even when these actions reach the level of genocide.

In the current confrontation, the Berlin police claimed that their raid on the Palestine Congress was due to such concerns of antisemitism. (Middle East Monitor)

German media resolutely parroted the state’s narrative. The truth is, as Dr. Abu Sitta said, that Germany is complicit in the genocide in Gaza and will not hesitate to obfuscate the truth and dispel dissidents to protect its interests as a capitalist [neo]imperialist régime that unwaveringly supports the […] occupation.

Palestinian protesters seem to be bearing the brunt of police crackdowns on protests in Germany — “We Jews are just getting arrested, the Palestinians are being beaten,” Hefets says. One example was the brutal arrest of a hijab-wearing protester at a sit-in in Berlin central station this past weekend, which was captured on video and posted to social media channels.

But Hefets believes her group of Jewish activists is also being specifically targeted at demonstrations because of its Jewish identity.

Last week, Jewish Voice’s bank account was frozen ahead of mid-April’s Palastina Kongres (Palestine Congress) — for “regulatory reasons”, according to the state-owned Berliner Sparkasse bank. The group’s account has been frozen before, in 2019, because of its support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“They [Jewish protesters] get in the way of the narrative of Jews being protected by Germans against Muslims — but when you see Jews marching, then you see it’s not needed,” says Hefets.

Her case was one of the reasons that Germany’s ranking was dropped to “narrowed” in the Civicus Monitor, an annual ranking that measures civic freedoms to protest.

[…]

Palestinian activist Ola Alzayat attended a protest in February and explains that, being pregnant, she took special care to stay out of trouble.

Suddenly, “somebody grabbed my face from behind. I didn’t know what was going on”, she says.

It was the police. In a video of the incident which has been seen by Al Jazeera, a visibly pregnant Alzayat can be seen being dragged away by the neck, with her keffiyeh pulled from her neck to her face. She is screaming: “I’m pregnant, please, please!”

Alzayat says that officers slapped her face when she tried to move, leaving her with bruising. They initially accused her of trying to “prevent an arrest”, later adding another accusation of hitting police officers with a flag, even though she claims not to have even had a flag with her.

She says she was carried by five officers and put into a police car, from which she saw her husband being arrested as well. Though the charge of preventing an arrest was dropped, she says investigations continue over the allegations that she assaulted a police officer.

OAKLAND, Calif. — A former correctional officer at a federal California women’s prison known for numerous misconduct allegations was sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing five inmates, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Nakie Nunley, who supervised inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, becomes the seventh correctional officer sentenced to prison for sexually abusing inmates, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. A 2022 investigation by The Associated Press revealed a cultural of rampant sexual abuse and cover-up at the prison.