Far-right activist wins NIS 1000 in police lawsuit

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
The Jerusalem Small Claims Court on Thursday ordered two Israeli policemen to pay far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir NIS 500 each in compensation for unlawfully detaining him in the middle of the night after being frightened by his barking dog during a late-night stroll he took in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron. Ben-Gvir had sued police for NIS 16,000 in compensation after a police officer cocked his gun and aimed it at his dog, Chompy, during the October 2005 incident. Judge Abraham Tennenbaum wrote in his ruling that police could have been frightened by the unleashed and unmuzzled canine - who had been summoned to the court during a previous hearing - but that they had no right to detain his owner in the middle of the night over the incident when they could have easily summoned him into police headquarters in the morning. The far-right activist said that he was considering appealing the "light" sentence. The award money will go towards dog treats, he said.