The Bottom Line Between “Black Lives Matter” and “Palestinian Lives Matter”
By Rudi Hendrik, MINA journalist
On Monday, May 25, 2020, a white police officer named Derek Chauvin cracked down on a black man named George Floyd in the city of Minneapolis, the State of Minnesota, United States (US). At that time Chauvin with three of his colleagues.
Chauvin caught Floyd, in his 40s, on the sidewalk with his knees around his neck for several minutes.
Floyd was heard saying, “Please, please, I can’t breathe.”
The clerk told Floyd to “relax”.
Floyd answered, “I can’t breathe. Please, knees on my neck. ”
Chauvin continued to hold Floyd on his knees for several minutes, while Floyd begged and asked for water.
“My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Help! help. I can’t breathe, “Floyd shouted, groaning and coughing.
Floyd finally seemed to be motionless under the officer’s knee.
Those who witnessed the incident were heard begging the police to release Floyd.
“He did not move,” said a spectator and shouted, “Get down from his neck.”
The event was recorded in a video which was later spread widely on social media. However, it is unclear the beginning and end outside of the recorded scene.
However, Minneapolis Police Department said, then Floyd was transferred to the nearest medical center where he died moments later.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said at a press conference on Tuesday, May 26, the four officers involved in the incident had now been dismissed from their duties.
However, the anger of Minneapolis residents has ignited which accuses the police of acting racist and brutal.
Mass protests occurred in several consecutive days. Riots and confrontation of protesters with the security forces occurred.
The same action then became national. Protests with the slogan “Black Lives Matter” against racism and police brutality took place in major cities of the United States, the State of New York was rocked by protests and riots.
Cars and police stations were targeted by arsonists.
The national economy which collapsed due to the new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) made residents take advantage of the situation to loot various shops.
Until Sunday night American time, May 31, protests and riots still occurred in various American cities.
Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin rests on George Floyd’s neck on the sidewalk on Monday, May 25, 2020. (YouTube)
Murder of Eyad Al-Hallaq
A few days later, in the area which became the center of the biggest racism, namely in occupied Palestinian land, there was also an act of police brutality that drew criticism and international concern.
On Saturday, May 30, 2020, at one of the check points in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem (Al-Quds), Iyad Al-Hallaq (32), a young man with special needs (disabled), was shot dead by Israeli police.
Israeli authorities said in a statement, autistic Hallaq refused to stop because police said they saw Palestinians “carrying suspicious objects that appeared to be weapons.”
But according to a lawyer representing the Hallaq family, the unarmed Hallaq then escaped from the scene, ran and hid behind a trash can when police chased him. The young man was then shot 10 times.
Israeli media reported that the “suspicious object” on Hallaq was a cellphone.
Hallaq’s parents told local media that their son was on his way to the special needs school where he worked. They had told Hallaq to hold the phone to make sure he arrived safely.
“He is unable to hurt anyone,” his family told Haaretz.
The Hebrew Channel (13) revealed that Israeli police had raided Al-Hallaq’s home after he was martyred to search for any material, even insulting his sister.
The killing of Hallaq by Israeli police shook Palestine. Palestinian authorities in Ramallah, the West Bank and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, reacted violently to the killings.
That same Saturday night, dozens of mobs gathered in Jerusalem protesting the killing of Hallaq.
Demonstrators in the Old City of Jerusalem carry signs that read “Important Iyad Life” and “Palestinian Lives Matter”, echoing the Black Lives Matter movement originating in the United States.
One of the demonstrators read “Justice for Eyad. Justice for George “, referring to George Floyd in the US.
“Police violence in East Jerusalem is a policy, just like the policy against black people in the US,” said Shahaf Weisbein, one of the organizers of the protest.
“Police violence and occupation policies towards Palestine are a sad routine. It’s time to end the occupation, and for justice for all victims of police violence everywhere, “Shahaf Weisbein, one of the organizers of the protest, was quoted as saying by Arab News.
That same night, dozens of people also gathered to protest in Tel Aviv.
After the assassination, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab representatives in the Israeli parliament “Knesset” called for urgent international intervention to protect the Palestinian people.
“Increasing Israeli crime in the occupied city of Jerusalem calls for immediate international intervention,” PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi Al-Hadmi said in his press statement on Saturday.
He added the crime of occupation in the Old City has not stopped, but in recent weeks there has been a noticeable increase in Palestinians and their property.
Hamas, the armed faction that controls the Gaza Strip blocked by Israel, said the Hallaq shootings “prove the sadism of the Israeli leadership.”
“The response of our people, at any time, will continue resistance and the intifada,” Hamas said on the same day.
Meanwhile, Ayman Odeh, Chairperson of the “Joint List” faction in the Knesset said in his Twitter account, someone had to make sure the Israeli police were in prison for trial.
Israeli Knesset member Aida Toma Suleiman also said on his Twitter account, he considers the killing of Palestinian youths to be the result of the threat of the new Israeli Minister of Homeland Security, Amir Ohana, to spill the blood of everyone who attacks a policeman.
“For those who are shocked by the killings in the United States, pay close attention, all (Palestinian) people moan under Israeli occupation without being able to breathe,” he said.
On Sunday, the Alternative Prime Minister and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the Israeli government would “investigate” the shooting.
Although it is not chaotic in the United States in reaction to racist actions of Israeli forces against Palestinians, racist incidents between in Minneapolis and Jerusalem connect the “red thread” that is increasingly opening the eyes of the world about systemic racism in government and security institutions of the United States and Israel. (AT/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
