Border cop indicted for failing to check Palestinians at checkpoints
Border Policeman assisted Arab-Israeli acquaintance in getting PA residents through Walaja (Tunnels) Checkpoint without inspection on several occasions; 'I'll pretend to inspect you and let you pass, as if I don't know you,' he told his accomplice.
The 49-year-old policeman was charged with fraud and breach of trust offenses. His accomplice was also indicted for fraudulently obtaining benefits.
The indictment, which was submitted to the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court by attorney Batya Kolitz on behalf of the Department of Internal Police Investigations (Internal Affairs), purports the suspected cop assisted his acquaintance in passing through the Tunnels Checkpoint with Palestinian Authority residents on several instances.
The policeman served as a commander of a company that operates in areas surrounding Jerusalem. As part of his position, he served as a field officer in the Tunnels Checkpoint, and checkpoint commanders who carried out the actual inspections were his subordinates under his command.
The indictment specifically mentions an incident dated August 6, 2016, in which his accomplice contacted him asking for help in passing through the checkpoint in a car carrying two other women, who she claimed had a "medical pass to a hospital."
"Okay. I'll come around and pretend to inspect you and then wave you through, as if I don't know you," the officer replied.
Pursuant to her request, he contacted the checkpoint commander and ordered him to allow her car—which he described—to proceed without inspection.
Later that same day, the indictment further alleges, the Arab-Israeli contacted the officer again to request his assistance in getting a bus carrying Palestinian children and their parents through the checkpoint.
Internal Affairs claimed the officer's conduct was severely detrimental to the routine security operations in the areas around Jerusalem with which he was entrusted. Moreover, he is said to have abused his position, which provided him access to police information systems, several times for his own private needs and requests made by his friends.
