Arye Deri, haredi MKs hit out at police, gov't treatment of public

Shas leader demands publication of criteria for lockdowns of cities and neighborhoods

By JEREMY SHARON
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri (photo credit: AMIT SHABI/YEDIOTH ACHRONOTH/POOL)
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri
(photo credit: AMIT SHABI/YEDIOTH ACHRONOTH/POOL)
Senior ultra-Orthodox politicians have reacted sharply to incidents of police violence and excessive force Saturday night, accusing the police of discrimination against the ultra-Orthodox public and the government of adopting double standards against the sector.
Interior Minister and Shas leader Arye Deri hit out at what he described as the double standard in how police deal with the protests by a largely secular crowd in Tel Aviv where there was little friction, with the small ultra-Orthodox protests in Jerusalem where police were recorded using heavy handed and violent tactics.
And Construction and Housing Minister and United Torah Judaism chairman Yaakov Litzman held a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the problem Sunday afternoon, citing similar complaints.
“We saw two protests last night, one in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv with ten thousand people and one in Romema in Jerusalem with a few dozen ultra-Orthodox protestors,” observed Deri during Sunday morning’s cabinet meeting.
“In the Tel Aviv protest they did not always keep the required distance from each other, people weren’t stringent about the regulations and we didn’t see violence against the protestors.
“In the Romema neighborhood, we saw a video in which a ultra-Orthodox man asks a policeman why he isn’t wearing a mask and in response the police man hit him in the face with his fist and stopped him getting help.”
Video footage from the Romema protests did indeed emerge on Twitter depicting this incident, with other police officers then trying to intimidate the ultra-Orthodox journalist who recorded it.
Other footage showed police officers charging indiscriminately at protestors, kicking, pushing and shoving, and using seemingly unwarranted violent tactics.
“This is deliberate violence of policemen against ultra-Orthodox protestors. It has to stop,” continued Deri. 
He said that he and the leaders of the United Torah Judaism party met with Public Security Minister Amir Ohana on Friday to discuss the issue who he said was “attentive” to the problematic attitude of the police to the ultra-Orthodox public.
During the cabinet meeting, Deri also demanded that the criteria for imposing a lockdown on a city, neighborhood or region should be published immediately, “to avoid the feeling of discrimination,” which the ultra-Orthodox public has complained of following the lockdown of several ultra-Orthodox areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly agreed to this demand.
Earlier on Sunday, Shas MK Yaakov Margi who heads the Knesset Economy Committee threatened to open a committee of enquiry into police violence during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Young police officers, don’t get in trouble because of your commanders. Everything is recorded. Coroanvirus will pass, a committee of enquiry will be established, there will be attorneys who will make a lot of money out of it, and then in the halls of the courts you will be alone with your parents and a lot of legal expenses, and your commanders will get promotions, they will sell us fake values, I am disgusted by them,” fumed Margi on Twitter.


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