"He added that they were keeping tabs on Eritrean migrant protest groups,
including ones that had allegedly targeted the Eritrean ambassador. Gez
believes the protests and violence are to some extent orchestrated in order
to create the appearance that the migrants are refugees and opponents of
the Eritrean regime"
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Beduin-cop-describes-year-undercover-running-a-bar-for-African-migrants-355662
Year-long TA 'sting' nets dozens of African migrant
By BEN HARTMAN
06/08/2014 14:30
Beduin police officer describes "longest period of his life" running bar
and logging crimes committed by patrons.
For the past year a Beduin policeman lived undercover in south Tel Aviv
running a bar for African migrants and slowly recording dozens of drug,
property and violent crimes committed in the streets and alleyways of the
Neveh Sha'anan neighborhood, police said on Sunday.
The officer said it was "the longest period of his life," hours after it
all came to an end with the arrest of dozens of African migrants in a raid
at his bar on Neveh Sha'anan Street, just north of the central bus station.
The men were arrested not long after they showed up for a party he had
advertised at his establishment. Police who had been lying in ambush
swarmed the building, with dozens more arriving by bus and hauling in 50
men. Police have arrest warrants for an additional 15 men who did not come
to the party, but whom they expect to find in the coming days, they said.
The Beduin officer, who has 10 years experience in the force and was
previously an IDF officer, has a dark complexion. He grew dreadlocks for
his undercover work, and while the men who frequented his bar knew him as
an Arab-Israeli bar owner, on the streets of south Tel Aviv the Israelis he
interacted with saw him as an African migrant, giving him the feeling of
walking in their shoes, he said.
"I started to understand what it's like for them [African migrants]. You
walk around and people look at the color of your skin and assume you are
one of the people committing crimes," the agent said, adding that there
were times, including during the African migrant protests earlier this year
when he said he worried that he would be assaulted by an Israeli resident
of south Tel Aviv.
He also said that for a month-and-a-half he had serious trouble finding
someone willing to rent him an apartment in south Tel Aviv, until he
finally decided to use his Israeli ID. He was detained by police in public
on a couple of occasions over the past 14 months, and said, "You just want
to scream to them that you're one of them, that you're a cop, but you
can't. You have to play the role and keep quiet."
The policeman feared he would be harmed if someone discovered that he was
working undercover, though he had back-up at all times in the area and was
followed by surveillance cameras to record his movements and protect him,
Tel Aviv police commanders said.
The cop said the past year also gave him an understanding of what the
Israeli residents of south Tel Aviv endure, seeing the crime in the migrant
community from up close.
"Most of the [African] people are not committing crimes and the ones who
do, the Sudanese ones, probably did back in Sudan too," he said, adding
that he learned that a lot of the Sudanese men had warrants for their
arrest back in their home country and wanted to avoid extradition from
Egypt.
Yiftah subdistrict Cmdr.
David Gez said the operation was planned two years ago when police realized
that they were desperately in need of intelligence on the African migrant
community, which had grown to tens of thousands in just a few years, with
virtually no police sources working from the inside.
"With the massive influx of migrants [coming in] through Egypt we started
to see a growing phenomenon of criminal activity among them and we realized
that we needed to get agents operating within the community, to gather
intelligence on their criminal activities, but also on their organization,"
Gez said.
He added that they were keeping tabs on Eritrean migrant protest groups,
including ones that had allegedly targeted the Eritrean ambassador. Gez
believes the protests and violence are to some extent orchestrated in order
to create the appearance that the migrants are refugees and opponents of
the Eritrean regime.
Senior Tel Aviv police officers have said recently that they watched the
January protests in the African migrant community closely, to prevent
violence between Israelis and migrants, but also because they don't have
the manpower or capabilities to deal with mass acts of public disturbance
by thousands of Africans, were they to decide to become violent.
Tel Aviv Police head Asst.- Ch. Benzi Sau said that the operation on Sunday
and the undercover work was of great importance to the district and "an
extension of the policies of the Public Security Ministry with the
involvement of Interior Minister [Gideon Sa'ar]."
Suspects were brought for remand extensions at the Tel Aviv courthouse and
further arrests are expected this week, police said.
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Received on Mon Jun 09 2014 - 13:23:30 EDT