Radical Israeli left-wing groups target Jerusalem police officer

Left-wing NGOs and anti-Netanyahu protest groups behind the push to oust police officer Niso Guetta, said Channel 20 News.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A report by Israel’s Channel 20 News on Thursday revealed that left wing NGOS are leading efforts to oust senior police officer Niso Guetta from the Jerusalem police force.

Israel’s Police Internal Investigations Department is currently investigating Guetta, after a clip appearing to show Guetta shoving, pushing, and hitting demonstrators during an anti-Netanyahu protest in Jerusalem came to light last week.

Zazim, a small NGO that receives nearly half of its funding from the New Israel Fund, is leading the push for Guetta’s dismissal.

In recent years, Zazim has focused on voter recruitment in the Bedouin sector, using dubious methods that resulted in a ban on their activities by Israel’s Elections Committee.

Zazim also advocated on behalf of Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teenager filmed slapping an IDF soldier, calling for her to be released from detention while awaiting trial. The group later chastised Israeli newspaper Maariv for using “harsh” language when describing her.

Zazim has previously called for the dismissal of rabbis who they believe make derogatory statements about Arabs and the gay community.

In a statement, Zazim said, “The role of the Israel Police is to protect and serve civilians who live in the country. We demand that the senior command of the police send a message to every police officer that violence is a wrong thing and there is no place for a police officer to behave in this way.”

Attorney Gonen Ben Yitzhak, a leader of the Black Flag and Crime Minister groups, wrote an open letter on behalf of the movements. The Black Flag and Crime Minister movements are prominent players in the ongoing Jerusalem anti-Netanyahu protests.

He demanded that Guetta be kept away from the Jerusalem protests and warned that protesters will “not accept a situation in which police are violent with non-violent demonstrators.”

“If we don’t receive an answer tomorrow [on Guetta’s dismissal], the movements will appeal to the court demanding a restraining order against the violent policeman Niso Guetta.”

Yishai Hadas, another central organizer of the Jerusalem protests, who was famously spotted brunching at the Waldorf Astoria with Ben Yitzhak last month, called out Guetta during a Knesset panel on police response to the demonstrations.

“The police are endangering protesters’ lives, throwing people around, pushing people to the ground. Are the police planning for people to be killed there [during the protests]?

“Regarding Superintendent Niso Guetta. Despite the eyewitnesses, despite the material, nothing has been filed against him in court. Why?” asked Hadas, who subsequently stormed out of the room.

Kan News reported that Guetta told investigators he was “attacked by a protester who charged at him” and that he “acted according to protocol.”

“During yesterday’s events, as far as I’m concerned, there was no use of excessive force on my part,” he said. “They [the protesters] spoke to me threateningly, called me a Nazi. Some of them even attacked me.”

Guetta’s attorney, Liran Zilberman, told Kan News that the clip “presents a partial picture.”

Guetta “trusts the internal investigation for matters to be clarified at the end of the investigation,” he added.