Three police officers and a police volunteer from the Nazareth station were indicted on Thursday for allegedly assaulting three young men, including one who was a minor at the time, during a roadside stop in nearby Mash’had in April 2024.
The Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department (PID) filed the indictment on Thursday in Nazareth Magistrate’s Court against Ron Biton, Amir Ghadir, Bashir Khoury and Andros Zohar Berenger. All four are charged with aggravated assault.
According to the indictment, the three officers were serving as patrol officers at the Nazareth station, while Berenger was a police volunteer. Biton was the shift commander on the night of the alleged assault.
Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on April 1, 2024, the four defendants were traveling in two police vehicles when they noticed a black Chevrolet carrying three young men near a roundabout in Mashhad, the indictment states.
The defendants believed that the occupants had cursed and taunted them and ordered the driver to pull over. The driver complied.
Ghadir then approached the vehicle and asked its occupants who had cursed at the officers, according to the indictment. At the same time and without warning, Khoury allegedly struck a passenger in the face, pulled him from the back seat and punched him in the chest.
Police officers allegedly assaulted three young men
The indictment alleges that all four defendants then assaulted the three young men together, punching and kicking them across their bodies while shouting, among other things, “Who cursed?” and “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
Khoury subsequently searched the vehicle without legal authority, prosecutors allege.
One complainant suffered a cut above his left eyebrow, while the passenger who had been a minor suffered an abrasion on his left leg, according to the indictment.
The charge alleges that the defendants acted together and caused bodily injuries to two of the three complainants. The investigation was conducted by PID’s northern team.
PID’s institutional future is currently before the High Court of Justice following the passage of legislation in June separating the department from the State Attorney’s Office and establishing it as a separate Justice Ministry investigation and prosecution body.
Supporters of the law, including its sponsor, Likud MK and former PID deputy director Moshe Saada, argue that the existing arrangement creates an inherent conflict because prosecutors routinely work with police officers while overseeing the department responsible for investigating them. The legislation passed 43-39 and gives the restructured department its own budget and authority to investigate and prosecute suspected crimes by police officers.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and petitioners challenging the law argue that the new structure would replace that potential conflict with political dependence. They have pointed to the justice minister’s influence over the appointment mechanism, the ministry’s control of the department’s budget, and the transfer of powers currently exercised by the attorney-general and state attorney.