President Rivlin addressed a memorial service for Israel Police Dep. Commissioner Ephraim Bracha, who recently took his own life apparently in connection to his alleged illegal actions connected to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto.

President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday evening 19 Menachem Av addressed the memorial ceremony for the late Deputy Commissioner Ephraim Bracha held at the national police academy in Beit Shemesh. Participating in the ceremony were members of the Bracha family, alongside Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan.

In his address, the President spoke of the lessons to be learned following the tragic death of Dep. Commissioner Bracha. He said, “The lesson is simply that in every situation, on the other side there is a person. On the most basic and emotional human level, in which we understand that we are all human, and that under the uniform of a deputy commissioner is a human being. That under a judge’s or prosecutor’s robes, under a prisoner’s uniform or the suit of a defendant – there is a human being. As there is behind the sign being held by a protester, and even beneath the suit and tie of a politician.”

The President added, “In the moment before you send that cutting article, share that vitriolic post, before carrying out an on-line lynch – consider for a moment, on the other side is a human being. So too, in the moment before you disperse an angry protest, before going out to make an arrest, before the use of force and authority – let us remember that on the other side there is a human being. So too, in the moment before you call a policeman a ‘Nazi’, or decrying an official as a ‘racist’, or before threatening a parking inspector, before cursing a teacher, a moment before blood is shed – let us remember that on the other side there is a human being. It is my hope that the tragic death of the late Dep. Commissioner, Ephraim Bracha, will serve as a stark warning for us, lest we forget the humanity within us.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)