The comments came in response to a question about accusations of police brutality and racial discrimination against Ethiopian Israelis.
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Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich told a meeting of the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv that migrants deserve more suspicion than the rest of the population. “When these two things come together”, Alsheich said, “it turns out that a particular community is statistically involved in crime more than others”. They began immigrating to Israel in the 1970s after chief rabbis determined they had biblical roots. “When a policeman encounters a suspect, [the policeman’s] mind suspects him more than it would if he were someone else”.
Alsheich was immediately condemned by leading figures in Israel’s Ethiopian community as well as prominent Israeli political figures. Gadi Yibarkan, local activist and head of the Campaign for Equality for Ethiopian Jews, told the outlet Tuesday that the police chief was “not particularly smart for openly saying that Israel was a racist country”.
“The police chief didn’t justify the overpolicing phenomenon against Israelis of Ethiopian descent”, Erdan said later on Tuesday.
Alsheich’s comments were also criticised by the leader of Israel’s opposition, Isaac Herzog, who called on the police commissioner to “correct and clarify his statements, because it’s intolerable that anyone understand that it’s legitimate to place Ethiopian or Arab citizens under heavier scrutiny”.
Several high-profile cases involving apparent violent or verbally abusive conduct by the police against Ethiopian Israelis sparked major demonstrations a year ago.
A report a year ago by the American Immigration Council found, to the contrary, that immigrants to the United States were historically less likely to be involved in crime. His comments were widely reported in the Israeli media.
Alsheich later insisted that he “had no intention of offending Israelis of Ethiopian origin”, and had simply been stating the reality of the situation.
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Despite the public criticism voiced against Alsheikh following this statement, Erdan said that he supports the Israel Police Commissioner. “The chief of police made an honest admission that after deep internal examination we found that there was overpolicing at the interface between cops and members of the Ethiopian community in Israel”, said that statement.
