Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said on Wednesday in the Knesset that he is against "turning the police into a punching bag," but at the same time he opposed the arrest of Daphne Leef.
Aharonovich also said that he opposed violence of any kind, whether directed against social protesters or against the police.
He noted that he was specifically opposed to some of the force used by police that was videotaped and has been traveling across the airwaves and on the internet, but that he believed that the incidents should be reviewed by the police's internal affairs department and not prejudged by a "trial by the media."
The public security minister added that in some of the videotaped incidents, that the footage was incomplete and that police said protesters had thrown stones and eggs at them and vandalized a police commander's car.
Aharonovich emphasized that the political and police command echelons had not endorsed any sort of policy of intimidation against the social protesters, and any incidents had been individual exceptions.
Rather, he called the police "professional" and noted that it was their job to secure social protesters as well as to maintain public order.