Qays Haddad Was Repeatedly Attacked By Three Plainclothes Detectives And Around 10 Uniformed Officers, He Said. He Was Told “An Arab Won’t Check Me.”
A Palestinian citizen of Israel working as a security guard at a football match was brutally beaten by 13 police officers while on shift earlier this month, he said on Wednesday.
Qays Haddad, 21, works as the head of a security team at events in Jerusalem, mainly at Pais Arena and Teddy Stadium.
On December 8th, he told Haaretz, he was working at the latter during a derby between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem.
Haddad said that while he was at the entrance, overseeing the scanning of tickets, three plainclothes detectives were among those entering the stadium. They did not initially introduce themselves, as required, Haddad recounted.
He told them to slow down, and put his hand out to block their passage.
Haddad recounted that one of them said: “Who are you to put your hand up like that?” and pushed him. “An Arab won’t check me.”
That plainclothes detective then identified himself as a police officer.
The three detectives then began beating up the Palestinian security guard, and took him to one side.
“One of them held me by the head, took me to the police officers who were standing on the side and told them, ‘I’m the police.’ I thought to myself, ‘Maybe they came to help me,’ but about 13 police officers started beating me all over my body,” he said.
The uniformed officers handcuffed him, punched him repeatedly and swore at him, calling him an “Arab son of a bitch”.
“All the policemen’s hands were bloody from the beatings,” Haddad said. “I wasn’t breathing, I couldn’t see where I was. I was dizzy, and I passed out for a few minutes.”
Haddad said that although ambulances are supposed to have access to all areas of the stadium, there was a delay in one arriving at the scene.
“We waited for half an hour,” he said. “My face was all bloody, I was vomiting blood, I couldn’t breathe, they were choking me. I have marks on my neck. I couldn’t breathe.”
He went to file a police complaint the day after the incident, but a policewoman told him: “There’s no way a brother can file a complaint for another brother.”
Several days later, a complaint was eventually filed, and an investigation was opened.
Over a week on from the attack, Haddad said he struggles to eat due to his injuries. He is also traumatized.
“I wake up in the morning, and my head hurts. I can’t sleep. But more than the head, my heart hurts. On Thursday… I heard an ambulance or police siren from the window. I jumped, thinking, ‘What happened to me? This doesn’t make sense.’ I thought they were coming for me.”
Haddad said that he would struggle to go back to work alongside police officers. He said that he is in a WhatsApp group with a large number of security guards who are Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are also afraid to work.
“Because of this incident, there won’t be any security guards left. There’s already been a shortage since the war,” he said.
Haddad said that he has many police officer friends, including Jewish Israelis, who told him not to be silent and to speak up about what happened.
Israeli police said in a statement: “During preparations for a football game, a bouncer at the scene began to confront the police. If there are any complaints about the conduct of the police at the scene, they should be referred to the relevant authorities.”
Hidden History -- In The Making 