Sidewalks of Sde Dov

"In relation to alleged violations within Israel, the Mission concludes that, although there does not appear to be a policy in this respect, there were occasions when reportedly the authorities placed obstacles in the way of protesters seeking to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech to criticize Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip." Thus reads an article in the Goldstone report - an assertion based on the firsthand experience of 16 participants in a demonstration held at the entrance to the Sde Dov air force base a year ago, which ended in an exceptional indictment and a procedure now being carried out in court.

A perusal of the discussions held over the past month in regard to the case reveals the police were overly enthusiastic in preventing protests against Operation Cast Lead, and overstepped their authority to make arrests. However, the report points out that apparently not one arrest was made at the demonstrations held in favor of the military campaign in Gaza.

The protest under discussion was held on the morning of Friday, January 2, 2009, six days after the operation began. About 20 activists arrived at the entrance to the Sde Dov base early in the morning, wearing white full-body suits covered in red stains that looked like blood. Some demonstrators held signs saying "The blood of children is on your hands."

In a video clip distributed on YouTube, the demonstrators are seen lying on the road at the entrance to the base. A police officer who arrived at the scene asked them to get onto the sidewalk, after which the demonstrators did get up and stand on the side. Then dozens of police officers arrived and indiscriminately arrested all of them.

Immediately following, an indictment was served against 16 people: Ben Ronen, Adi Winter, Yehonatan Melinger, Doron Efrati, Tamir Wallach, Yoav Gurfinkel, Keren Shayo, Timna Peretz, Kobi Snitz, Ayala Shani, Keren Manor, Shai Carmeli, Iran Nissim, Haggai Matar, Rotem Kinberg and Kim Yuval. There were accused of "unapproved entry to a military site, participation in unlawful assembly, disturbing a policeman in the line of duty and participation in rioting after orders were given to disperse." This is a relatively rare indictment for protest participation unrelated to a violent crime.

The case against 14 of the accused (the other two have not been found) is being heard in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court before Judge Hadassah Naor, with the evidentiary stage conducted over the past month. Based on the police officers' testimony, it turns out there had been an order to stop the protest against the war in any event, regardless of what happened on the ground. In his testimony about the briefing they received before embarking on the operation, Border Police officer Ephraim Danilov said: "That's what I understood at the briefing itself. The moment you block the entry to a base to pilots who are supposed to take off [very soon], that's dangerous. At the end of the day, it's about a person's security."

Superintendent Avi Ofer, who commands Yasam, the Special Patrol Unit of the Israel Police, said they used "lookouts who observed the people and reported to us [the Yasam] about each one - who participated and who did what." In the briefing, he said, they were told to "evict them the moment we were told they were blocking the entrance to the base ... to move them from the spot, to carry out arrests, because this is a serious incident." Regarding the accused woman whom he personally arrested, Ofer admitted in his testimony that "I don't remember exactly where I arrested her, on the road or on the sidewalk. I don't remember exactly."

In the testimony given by Superintendent Ronen Aharon Abergil, a deputy officer in the community police division of the Yarkon District, he says that "it was clear to me that the moment I arrived at such an incident, after the orders to disperse were given, we were talking about arrest in order to enable [unobstructed] entry to the base."

Point of contention

One point of contention in the case is the claim made by the accused that they stood on the sidewalk after receiving an order to clear the road, and therefore committed no crime - a claim which is supported by police testimony.

Another Yasam police officer, Pini Kadosh, spoke about the arrest of one of the demonstrators during his testimony. "I arrested him physically, I assume on the sidewalk," Kadosh said. The prosecutor asked why it was necessary to carry out arrests if the road was clear. Kadosh replied: "They received orders to disperse because they were disturbing the peace, and that's why they were arrested. That is the instruction we received."

Policeman Zev Cohen Rahamim from the Barak unit of the Border Police said in his testimony: "I don't know where exactly I put my hands on her or where exactly the act of arrest took place, but they were moving from the road to the sidewalk."

Regarding the amount of effort the police invested in the operation, it turned out they had prepared themselves at least two hours in advance, at the Tel Aviv port, and had waited for demonstrators. According to one of the police officers, "That day all the investigators worked on this demonstration. They all worked on those detained in this demonstration and didn't take care of anything else." The trial proceedings will continue in June.

"It's a shame the police still don't think freedom of expression and demonstration are an integral part of democracy and that they are also supposed to protect demonstrators, certainly when they obey the orders given by the police," said attorney Gaby Lasky, who is representing the defendants. "It's strange that a police force arrives with [advance] instructions to arrest demonstrators. We cannot ignore the fact that even during a time of war the muses are not silent, and actually then - of all moments - the role of every citizen is to not allow security to harm democracy."

The Spokesman's Office of the Tel Aviv District police said in response: "There is no comprehensive policy regarding arrests, each case is handled individually. The entire subject at hand is being dealt with in court and we will discuss it in court."