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Israeli Government Approves Bill Allowing Police to Search Homes without Warrant

  • October 18, 2021
Palestinian citizens of Israel protest calling for greater police presence in Arab communities. (Photo: via MEMO)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

The Israeli government on Sunday approved Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s proposal to allow Israeli police to search homes of violent crime suspects without a prior court order, Israeli media reported.

The law authorizes Israeli police to search for suspects or for weapons in cases deemed “serious crimes”.

While explaining the reasons behind such a move, Sa’ar said that this is just one of the laws he is going to propose to fight crime , especially “in the Arab sector”, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“We are at war,” Sa’ar was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying, “so we need to give the police and local authorities better tools to help them succeed in their mission.”

Last week, Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai pushed for a measure that would allow the so-called ‘Administrative Detention’ to be used against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Palestinian citizens, who make up 20 percent of the population in Israel, believe that Israeli occupation authorities are purposely ignoring rising crime rates in their community and that they are taking advantage of the situation to adopt ‘anti-democratic’ measures.

The Federation of Local Arab Authorities “accused the police of proposing anti-democratic measures, stressing that when organized crime raised its head in Jewish-majority cities the police easily brought the problem under control without resorting to policies that violated human rights,” the Irish Times reported.

Since the start of 2021, about 100 Arabs have been killed, with protests being held to urge the Israeli government to act.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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