Police officer allegedly hit settler in face in front of wife, sister.
By YAAKOV KATZpolice at gaza checkpoin(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
In a first such decision, the Justice Ministry's Police Investigative Department (PID) has recommended pressing disciplinary charges against a senior police officer who allegedly assaulted a right-wing demonstrator in the run-up to the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
Head of the PID, Herzl Shviro, decided last week to press charges against Asst.-Cmdr. Effi Mor - head of the Lahish District in the south. Mor, who was in command of police at several roadblocks along the Gaza Strip perimeter during disengagement, is suspected of assaulting Beit El resident David Ben Ya'acov at a roadblock not far from the Kissufim Crossing.
According to the complaint filed on behalf of Ben Ya'acov by the Human Rights Organization in Judea and Samaria, Mor ordered the 28-year-old Beit El resident to pull his car over at a roadblock. Mor then approached the car and ordered Ben Ya'acov to drive faster while sticking his hand inside the car and hitting him repeatedly on the face and neck in front of his wife, sister and small child.
"These roadblocks were a place that police repeatedly used to abuse people at," said Orit Struk head of the Human Rights Organization in Judea and Samaria. "They were very unsympathetic there."
Sources close to Mor rejected the charges and claimed the whole incident had been blown out of proportion.
"They are making a big deal over nothing," one officer said. "Mor just placed his hand on the man's shoulder and ordered him to drive. The man [Ben Ya'acov] blew it out of proportion and turned it into something else."
![police at gaza checkpoin (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/2841 "police at gaza checkpoin")