Israeli police deny branding Star of David on Palestinian man’s face

Israeli police have denied branding the Star of David on the face of a Palestinian man who they detained following a raid on his house in the Shu'fat camp near Jerusalem.

Akram Abu-Libdeh, the lawyer of 22-year-old Arawa Sheikh Ali, whose face was heavily bruised, stated that the injuries below the eye of his client were of a branding of the Star of David.

Abu-Libdeh also accused the police of injuring him while he was handcuffed and blindfolded.

Sheikh Ali was detained on suspicion of drug trafficking.

The accusations have been denied by the police, who stated the marks were caused by the shoes of one of the arresting officers.

They also said they had no choice to but to use force, stating that Ali had "violently attacked officers and resisted arrest," leading to the application of "reasonable force until the arrest process was completed."

However, Israeli police conduct in the arrest and detention of Ali has been criticised by Israeli judges since his appearance in court.

This includes district court judge Amir Shaked, who noted that the lack of body camera footage from any of the 16 officers involved in the operation did not make sense given "the police had prepared well in advance before searching the suspect's house."

The district court said the police had "no reasonable explanation" for the bruises and requested that the case be investigated by a special unit of the Israeli Justice Ministry, on grounds of police misconduct.

Once again: the anti occupation bloc at the Tel Aviv anti government protest. Some demonstrators painted a red Star of David, in protest against police officers who branded a Palestinian detainee with it on his cheek pic.twitter.com/svCWKyANmx

— Haggai Matar (@Ha_Matar) August 19, 2023

Jerusalem Magistrate Court judge Adi Bar-Tal has since released Ali to house arrest, stating that there were no grounds to keep him in detention under the current circumstances.

She also criticised the police's conduct as they had not given the suspect a medical examination and simply left him at the police station instead of transferring him to a detention centre.

In response to the incident, some Israelis who were protesting the government's controversial judicial overhaul painted a red Star of David to show solidarity.

Shikma Bressler, one of the leaders of the protest movement, called the incident "a disgrace."