‘You want more?’ Border Police officer indicted for assaulting journalist

Police assaulting journalists has become an increasingly common trend in Israel in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War.

A border police officer was indicted for the assault of a journalist, the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department (PID), which investigates allegations of police misconduct, announced on Sunday.

This isn’t the first such reported incident, and the trend has kept up a steady pace since the security situation worsened since October 7 and the ensuing Israel-Hamas War.

On February 11, 2024, police received reports of a terrorist attack inside Jerusalem’s Old City. ‘A’, who works as a journalist, went out to the scene to report. Authorities on the ground allowed him to stand on a nearby street.

Police then received an order to block the entire area, and to remove both civilians and journalists.

Border police staff commander Yazan Goaya, from Maghar, was at the scene. His team asked A to vacate the area, but A refused and kept trying to return to the scene several times. Each time he did, he was physically pushed backwards.

Officer taunts, assaults journalist

The next time A tried to cross over into the scene, Goaya ran at him, and without the authority to do so or any warning, he began to strike him with his baton several times to the upper body.

As a result, A fell to the ground and landed on a construction fence that was located behind him. Goaya didn’t stop though, and kept up the intense strikes without respite. Goaya stopped only when his staff physically pulled him away.

A was treated by medical staff on site who were preparing him for medical evacuation. Goaya, who noticed this, pointed his baton at A and said, “You want more?”

He then struck A again with the baton without relenting.

A walked away with a broken left arm, sensitivities in his right, and injuries in his legs.