MK Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish MK on the Arab Joint List Party, was attacked by Border Police officers and wrestled to the ground at a protest in east Jerusalem on Friday.

In videos posted online, the police can be seen punching him and trying to put him in a headlock before dragging him to the ground. One of the officers can later be seen briefly kneeling on his chest.

Cassif was left with a swollen eye, his shirt torn. Ahmad Tibi, a fellow lawmaker from the Joint List, was among those sharing the video of the scuffle on Twitter, calling it a “brutal assault” and a violation of parliamentary immunity.

https://twitter.com/inbartvizer/status/1380782535437864960?s=20

https://twitter.com/Nitske1/status/1380528440118542342?s=20

Israeli police said in a statement that Cassif attacked the policemen, who used “reasonable force” in response and released him as soon as they identified him as a member of parliament. It said Jerusalem’s police chief, Doron Turgeman, has ordered an investigation into the incident.

Cassif was taking part in a weekly protest in the mostly Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where rights groups say dozens of people are at risk of being evicted after a long court battle with Jewish settler groups. Jewish and Palestinian activists have been holding small weekly protests against the threatened evictions.

An Israeli court recently ordered the eviction of 58 people, 17 of them children, from seven houses in Sheikh Jarrah, according to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now.

The families are Palestinian “refugees” from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation who Peace Now says took up residence in the neighborhood under an agreement with Jordan, which controlled east Jerusalem from 1948 until 1967.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)