Police officer gets jail time for beating 2 Arabs

Haifa resident Maor Yisrael, who is serving time for hitting his girlfriend and another man, sentenced to additional year-and-a-half behind bars for beating two Arab-Israelis while serving in military

Ahiya Raved|Published: 12.21.11 , 22:13

The Haifa Magistrates' Court on Wednesday sentenced Maor Yisrael, 27, to a year-and-a-half in prison for assaulting two Arab men. This is the third time that Yisrael – who served as a police officer during his military service – is sentenced to jail time, after previously being convicted of hitting his girlfriend and another Arab.

The incident occurred in 2008, while Yisrael was on a motorbike patrol with another police officer. The two spotted two Arab men sitting at a bus station in Haifa's Neve David neighborhood and decided to stop and search their vehicle.

During the procedure, Yisrael beat the two men, and later called a police vehicle, led the victims to a police station and filed a false police report in which he wrote the two Arab men were sorry for their acts.

Judge Yechiel Lifshitz ruled that there is no dispute over the graveness of Yisrael's acts, who while on duty as a police officer "employed arbitrary violence against two innocent people."

Lifshitz addressed Yisrael's former record, saying that it testifies to the defendant's character, and shows that "it is not a one-time event, but rather a violent man's regular pattern of action."

The judge convicted Yisrael of assault, breach of trust, disruption of legal proceedings and abuse of his power as a police officer, and sentenced him to one-and-a-half years in prison. He ordered Yisrael to pay NIS 2,500 ($663) in damages to each victim.

The police officer who was patrolling with Yisrael was also convicted and sentenced to three months probation, a fine of NIS 1,500 ($398) and NIS 2,500 in damages for each of the complainants.