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Israel's police chief sidelining democratic values

The Israel Police under the leadership of Chief Roni Alsheich seems to be losing its guiding principles, instead protecting police officers from citizens rather than protecting the citizens and the values of democracy.
A picture taken on May 24, 2017 shows the Chief of the Israeli police, Commissioner Roni Alsheikh (C) during the Jerusalem Day march in Jerusalem. 
Alsheikh is the former deputy chief of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). / AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX        (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
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"We are here to serve. Our role is to serve the normal, law-abiding citizens and to provide them with the best possible personal security while waging a determined and uncompromising war against those people who choose to define themselves as criminals." That was just one moving statement made by Israel's Commissioner of Police Roni Alsheich when he was sworn in to his new position in December 2015.

Ostensibly, Alsheich's comments expressed a deep understanding of the role police play in a democratic society. Yet since then, Alsheich has actually proved that he has a very worrisome lack of understanding concerning the sanctity of human rights within a democracy. It seems as if Alsheich, who rose through the ranks of the Shin Bet, climbing as far as deputy director of that clandestine organization, has not fully internalized his role in a civil society and continues to act as if he is still operating in the shadow world.

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