In the last week, the police became for the umpteenth time the punching bag of politicians and some cynical and irresponsible journalists, who contribute to the Israeli public discourse becoming as violent as possible.
The peak reached such a point that there were those who claimed that the left demonstration was actually a "test for the police".
God forbid, not a test of the containment and restraint of all of us, but a test in which the questions are far from reality: Has this become the "Ben Gabir Police" that will act violently towards demonstrators?
Will the police lay down their weapons and join the protesters?
And when fuel vapors of abysmal hatred in the Israeli public float in the air, the police announcement about "fear of disorder" should have worried everyone.
right and left.
Instead, the police became the main suspect and from that moment on, any decision of a commander in the field could backfire.
If you contain the leftist demonstrations, you will be accused of selective enforcement that takes a light hand with the demonstrators.
If, God forbid, you are forced to use force, you will be accused of being a political police acting on behalf of a minister who is looking for beatings.
The truth lies elsewhere.
The police is a professional enforcement body that, on the one hand, carries out the government's directives and decisions and also maintains as much as possible equal enforcement, with its main task being to maintain public safety.
Between the two appointed ministers, the outgoing and the incoming, there are ideological polarities and different policies that all kinds of vested interests take advantage of to exaggerate and distort reality on social media in order to create tension that does not exist at all between the minister and the police.
Contrary to popular opinion, the police really like the public backing that the Minister of National Security gives to the police in general and the field police in particular, and his human and direct contact with them.
The police officers also support his public discourse on the duty to empower and strengthen the organization, to make the punishment worse and more.
The real problem is that the facts are not interesting and the public's memory is short.
Just a few weeks ago, the commissioner proved that he does not hold the politicians to account in protecting the independence of the police when he appeared in the Knesset for a discussion on amending the police ordinance, and in July 2020 the police command proved that he does not receive instructions from the appointed minister.
Police vehicles near the center of the demonstration in Tel Aviv, photo: no credit
Against the background of a petition in the High Court discussing the existence of demonstrations on Balfour Street in front of the Prime Minister's residence, recordings were published in the media that revealed conversations that Amir Ohana, then Minister of Internal Security, had with the commander of the Jerusalem district and the acting commissioner.
The first refused to ban the demonstrations and to take a hard hand against the demonstrators, and the second firmly rejected an attempt to attribute selective enforcement of the various demonstrations to the police.
Freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration are the basis of democracy and the police must do everything, but everything, to allow the existence of demonstrations in all sectors.
On the other hand, the protesting party has an obligation to act according to the law and order.
A license to demonstrate is not a license to block roads, curse policemen, resort to violence, commit vandalism and damage government symbols.
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