Letter From Jerusalem:How Should Police Respond To Haredim Who Call Them Nazis?

“They called me Nazi. Their chutzpa is unbelievable. How dare they?"

What’s the proper response?
How should police officers respond to harsh insults directed at them?
Nahum Barnea • Ynet

During one of the protests over the starved child affair, a uniformed Army Radio reporter emerged out of the haredi masses. He was livid with anger. “They called me Nazi,” he told his colleagues. “Their chutzpa is unbelievable. How dare they?

I felt for him. Regardless of the ancient question of why the IDF employs its soldiers in journalistic jobs, and when will we see a brave defense minister end this longtime anomaly, the soldier was right to feel insulted, both on the personal and national level.

The ease with which haredi protestors hurl the word “Nazi” at any person wearing a uniform, be it green or blue, is intolerable. It is no less infuriating, and possibly more so, than the soiled diapers hurled at police officers.

What is the proper way to respond to an insult? This question has stirred up great emotion in America in recent days. Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates returned to his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the door was jammed, and he had to break into his own house. A neighbor called the police. When the officers arrived, Gates presented ID that showed he lives in the house. Such incidents usually end with a handshake, but Gates was arrested.

The reason, according to the police report, was that he told one of the police officers: “I'll speak with your mama outside.” The reason, according to Gates, is the color of his skin. Gates is black, while the officer, Sergeant James Crowley, is white.

The incident turned into a national affair because of Barack Obama’s reaction. In a press conference, the president said that the police acted “stupidly.” The statement prompted renewed suspicions regarding Obama’s loyalties: Is he concerned for law and order in America, or only for the wellbeing of blacks?

Obama consulted with his wife and immediately issued a retraction. Now, they’re all good guys in his view – the police officers and the professor. A three-way reconciliatory meeting will be held at the White House soon.

Determination and sensitivity
Yet the question of what should be done to a person who insults law enforcement officials remained open. The New York Times, which looked into the issue, had trouble drawing conclusions. “Police departments issue their officers Kevlar vests to stop bullets, and thick helmets,” the paper wrote, “but there is nothing in the equipment room to give a cop thicker skin.”

The police officers interviewed for the piece made a distinction between a private insult and one uttered publically. They are willing to sustain face-to-face insults, but felt they must respond to public insults.” You don't get paid to be publicly abused,” said one officer. “"We have to remain in control. We're running the show,” said another. I heard similar sentiments expressed a few years ago in a briefing to riot police in Jerusalem.

It appears that everything can be summed up with the slogan coined by the IDF on the eve of the Gaza disengagement: Determination and sensitivity. Determination requires a response, while sensitivity requires one to bite the bullet.

This is particularly true in respect to the violent margins of the settlement enterprise. The hatred for the police there is even greater than in the haredi and Arab community. The modus operandi is also more sophisticated: Cameras monitor police officers who resort to force in response to verbal insults. At times, a reckless policeman is restrained this way, and this is commendable. Other times, the life of an excellent officer is ruined.

Israeli police officers who read about the insult directed at the policeman in Cambridge responded with laughter: Police officers and soldiers in Israel sustain much harsher insults in the settlements and in haredi neighborhoods. Often they pretend not to hear it. It’s humiliating, it’s frustrating, but usually it’s the right move.

Those who have power must simultaneously develop thick skin. This is true first and foremost for politicians; it’s also true for police officers, soldiers, and journalists. People in these fields have been given great power; they are not meant to misuse it.

Comments

[mr moe]

Emergency Meeting in Boro Park in regards to the latest aressts:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cktCgO7QYZg/Sm2_d9p8v7I/AAAAAAAACxA/90aYLlxv4lY/s1600-h/brndM01A2995.jpg

[PulpitRabbi]

The modus operandi is also more sophisticated: Cameras monitor police officers who resort to force in response to verbal insults. At times, a reckless policeman is restrained this way, and this is commendable. Other times, the life of an excellent officer is ruined.

The same can be said for the results of police action on individuals. I just heard a report yesterday about the dramatic increase of arrests in France, where people are now far more often arrested to investigate alleged crimes than in the past (the number of arrests there increased from 350K to 500K+ annually, over 2-3 years). Lots of innocent people get treated roughly by police that way. Here too, one can say: At times, a reckless policeman is restrained this way, and this is commendable. Other times, the life of an excellent officer is ruined.

In democratic societies, we [ought to] place important, bothersome limits on law enforcement, to balance the great power (both organizational and legal) they have.

And so, I say, no, "The statement prompted renewed suspicions regarding Obama’s loyalties: Is he concerned for law and order in America, or only for the wellbeing of blacks?" is an incorrect assessment. Just because one is for law enforcement does not mean that police officers should always "run the show" and should be allowed to act as if in a movie, owning the place, acting with a lack of sensitivity.

Unfortunately, it seems that particularly in America, police officers are taught to act like cowboys. And I will happily stand corrected, learning that major police department teach their recruits otherwise (but what I have seen, whether the way unlicensed street musicians were dealt with in the NY subway, or other minor arrests in other places - rubbernecking may be inconsidered, but it is also most informative - shows that my assessment rather well describes the situation. Even when confronting someone transgressing the law, can be done with sensitivity; even arrests can be done with sensitivity).

That said, it really is inconsidered to call an Israeli cop Nazi, plus, it loses its power through overuse. Let's reserve that word for, eh, well, Nazis.

[David F.]

That account of the Gates arrest is almost entirely wrong. If the writer is so twist a story to serve his purposes, I have doubts about the rest of his analysis.

[p_almonius]

I've been going to watch the demonstrations on Shabbat afternoon recently, and in addition to yelling "Nazi" at the police, a few will also say this to people who argue with them.

[Ben]

Calling Israeli police officer a Nazi cheapens the word. What you call real Nazi then? It is like Arabs calling treatment of Palestinians Holocaust.

In reality the Haredim have many more similarities to Nazis then the police officers, but they don't know the history to see that.

[critical_minyan]

I think the Haredim especially the Neturei Kartah and Toldot Aharon sect are Hitler's last joke on the Jewish people.
There is a strong possibility that there leadership was actually planted by Hitler before he lost as a backup move so that the Jews could be destroyed from the inside.
There can no other explanation why this group acts like a 5th column in almost every aspect of Jewish and Israeli life!

[effie]

The author of the article deliberately misstated most of the facts in the Gates incident.

[Hometown Postville]

I thought cops were supposed to be non-judgemental, concerned only for who was breaking the law and bringing them in. Complaining about name-calling makes it personal. Keep it professional.

[John]

They should laugh at them!
Why get "hurt" when called a "Nazi"? That word means nothing anymore.