It’s worth noting that police killings of unarmed civilians is not unique to the United States. Eleven months ago the death of Solomon Tekah unsettled Israel, as Mazal Mualem reported at the time in AL Monitor:
Tekah, 18, was killed on the night of June 30 in a public park in Kiryat Haim. The police officer who fired the shot said he was at the site with his family when he saw a group of young people fighting. He tried to break it up, but they started attacking him and even threw rocks at him. Feeling that his life was in danger, he pulled out his gun and fired a single shot into the ground. Tekah was killed by that shot.
The protest that erupted after Tekah’s funeral was one of the most violent Israel has ever seen. It continues to reverberate across the country and could erupt again when the investigation’s final findings are released. The protest is giving voice to a growing sense of distrust among weaker sectors of the population for the various law enforcement agencies, chief among them the police and the Department of Internal Investigations. For the Ethiopian community, these two bodies represent the institutionalized racism they face because of the color of their skin, more than anyone else. As the Ethiopian community sees it, the Department of Internal Investigations will always trample on their rights. Perhaps that is true, but even if it is not the case, feelings such as this point to an unhealthy and potentially volatile social situation. …
The killing of Tekah opened a Pandora’s box that refuses to be shut. Dozens of horrific stories of racism, beatings and false arrests directed at the Ethiopian community have been making the rounds over the last few days, both in the press and on social media. The worst of these describe violence and abuse by the police. “Shut down that tainted organization known as the Department of Internal Investigations!” was a popular chant at protests last week. It shows that there has been a complete breakdown of trust in the system.
Has the situation improved in Israel? From the AL Monitor email that caught my attention:
This month, the incoming deputy minister of public security, Gadi Yevarkan, a member of the Likud party and a child of Ethiopian immigrants, has proposed legislation to dismantle the Internal Affairs department and place it under the Justice Ministry.
His ally in the fight is Pnina Tamano-Shata, the first Israeli of Ethiopian origin to serve in the Knesset (parliament) and the minister of immigrant absorption.
“The very fact that Yevarkan and Tamano-Shata were appointed to senior positions in government is especially important to the fight against institutional racism,” Danny Zaken writes. “Their test will be whether they succeed in bringing about real change in the coming years.”
Perhaps they’re also endeavouring to take the difficult but necessary hike to remove racism.
More recent events in Israel-controlled Palestine (police killing), Tunisia (general racism), and concerning French sculptures insulting to Egypt are also noted.
Getting beyond our xenophobic natures will be a difficult but necessary task if we wish to avoid a blood-soaked future in which the vulnerable innocents are the victims.
