A reporter for Haaretz was arrested by Tel Aviv police after identifying as a journalist to police officers and asking why they were questioning a worker at a construction site. Charged with "interfering with police work" for his actions, Gidi Weitz was eventually freed from police custody, and he was not questioned on the incident.
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Weitz noticed police questioning a construction worker near his Tel Aviv home on Monday. When he asked the police what they were questioning the man about, the police officer called him over and threatened to ticket him for standing in the road.
Weitz then identified himself as a reporter, although he did not have his credentials on him at the time. When he asked the police officer if he could retrieve them, another officer began to yell at him, telling him to leave the area and suggesting he speak to the Israel Police's spokesperson unit.
Weitz refused, explaining he was a reporter and was just doing his job. In response, the officers arrested him, handcuffed him, put him inside their patrol car, and confiscated his cellphone. When Weitz complained the handcuffs were hurting him, they told him they would "fold him down into the floor" if he continued to move his arm. One of the officers even told a couple that lived nearby and was recording the incident, "We have more room in the patrol car."
When they reached the police station, located in the heart of Tel Aviv, the officers continued to humiliate the reporter, performing a body search, emptying his pockets, removing his shoelaces, and putting him in a holding cell. It was only after the station's commander ordered Weitz's release that it was decided to let him go and not to launch an investigation.
In a statement following the incident, the Israel Police said: "After the police hotline received a report of a suspicious person, a patrol car was dispatched to the site. The officers located two Palestinian residents of the territories near the site and began to question them and examine their identification cards.
"A citizen arrived, approached the officers, and asked a number of questions about their actions and why the Palestinians were detained. The officers asked the citizen to back away, and after he tried to ask both the detainees questions, the officers informed him of his arrest for interfering with police activity. The citizen was brought to the station and following a brief inquiry, was released unconditionally. The claim according to which he identified himself as a reporter prior to his arrest will be examined by the relevant officials."
In a post to social media, the Israel Union of Journalists wrote that it "views with great severity the event in which Haaretz report Gidi Weitz was arrested under false pretenses and after identifying as a reporter to the officers.
"The intolerable ease with which a person can be arrested solely for asking a number of questions should keep us up at night. We demand the Israel Police Commissioner [Yaakov Shabtai investigate the incident in question and clarify the manner in which the officers conduct themselves with journalists," the union said.
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