The IDF took an active role in clearing up the demonstrations that took place after the attack near the gas station near Ali, while taking steps considered controversial to evacuate the demonstrators, despite the fact that there were large police forces there. Israel Hayom has learned that for the first time in a long time, the IDF used Maktaziyot to evacuate the demonstrators.
The IDF has long said that it does not want to take an active part in dispersing Israeli demonstrations, and that it is the role of the police and the Border Police. However, it seems that as part of the ongoing confrontation in recent days against nationalist crime, it has been decided to take active action against the demonstrators.
Protest after the massacre. The scene of the attack at the Ali gas station, last week, photo: Yossi Zeliger
Last week, during a demonstration at the Mikhmas crossing junction, Israelis gathered there and broke into the road. In response, the security forces activated a rocket attack, which enraged many because this does not occur in many recent demonstrations in Israel. The residents also complained that the CCTV sprayed the material at Israelis who did not participate in the demonstration and fueled their vehicles. There was a large police force at the scene, and the demonstrators thought it was the police who carried out the evacuation using the Makhtzeit, but now it turns out that it was the army that took an active part in the evacuation.
In response to a letter submitted by B'Tselem to the police, it emerged that it was a military force that dispersed the demonstrators. "Recently, police, army and ISA forces have been operating in a number of locations simultaneously and in cooperation in dealing with widespread riots. No police measures were used at Kochav Yaakov Junction. The use of Maktazit, as described, was by means of a military Maktazit and by the Binyamin Brigade/Military Forces operating there.
"The use of military forces against civilian demonstrators is an act done in dark dictatorships and not in enlightened countries," says Shai Glick, executive director of B'Tselem. He said they had approached the Defense Ministry with a demand to instruct the IDF not to act again to disperse Israeli demonstrations. "We demanded that he instruct the IDF never to use Maktazit or any other use of demonstrators who are citizens of the State of Israel. It's about crossing a red line."
On the other hand, the IDF says that this is a case in which the IDF helped police forces evacuate the road. "A demonstration took place in the area of the Mikhmas Crossing Square on June 24, 2023. Subsequently, dozens of civilians arrived and threw stones at Palestinian vehicles that had been damaged and even tried to block the road. During the incident, a police car was also blocked. The security forces acted at the site in order to clear the road, and therefore a strike was used, after exhausting all the means at the force's disposal."
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