The state has agreed this week to pay nearly NIS 60,000 in compensation to a man
beaten by a police officer during an anti-disengagement rally in
2005.
The beating victim, Benny Rahamim, who was a resident of Neveh
Dekalim in the Gaza Strip, and today lives in Nitzan near Ashkelon, arrived at
the Kissufim crossing to pick up his daughter from a demonstration against the
impending disengagement.
The checkpoint had become a focal point for
routine demonstrations.
According to the charge sheet, as Rahamim waited
in his car, a senior special patrol officer, Ch.-Supt. Shai Badash, who was the
commander of his unit the Lachish region, asked him to move to the other side of
the street.
Rahamim began walking slowly to where he was directed, due to
the fact that he suffers from health problems in his legs, and has been
recognized as having 65 percent disability.
The officer became infuriated
with the slow pace, and struck Rahamim in the face, causing him to fall to the
ground.
Rahamim found himself on the ground, bleeding, with broke glasses
and barefoot. The assault was accompanied by a threat to “break his
bones,” according to the charge sheet.
He was then dragged to a police
car and arrested, only to be released from custody the following
day.
Rahamim has since required extensive medical care, and his level of
disability has risen since being attacked. He was also subject to a police
investigation on suspicion of attacking an officer.
He launched the
lawsuit at Netanya Magistrate’s Court, and accepted the compensation package
made by central state prosecutors, who represented police.
The Human
Rights Organization of Judea and Samaria, which accompanied Rahamim throughout
the lawsuit and arranged for his attorney, welcomed the decision, though the
organization said the payment offer came very late.
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