In this issue of Adalah’s News, we report on our new publication on the May 2021 events, also known as the “Dignity Uprising”, and how the violent suppression by Israeli security forces – which took place throughout historic Palestine (Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory) - laid the foundation for the current draconian policing practices by Israel’s radical, right-wing government against Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI). 
 
Two years after the May 2021 events, Adalah published a report that provides an in-depth understanding of the events and their implications within a broader system of oppression against Palestinians. During May 2021, the police violently dispersed peaceful protests by PCI without justification, clamping down on freedom of expression and assembly. Data obtained by Adalah demonstrates how the police and the State Attorney followed a clear two-tiered policy of racial discrimination, and a segregated system of law enforcement - one for Palestinians and one for Jewish Israelis - in applying the law and filing indictments.
 
The report documents patterns of excessive use of force by Israeli police against PCI, measures of surveillance and control, and violence by settlers and other Jewish civilians in Israel with the collusion of state institutions to protect them. The report includes testimonies from dozens of protestors who were detained by police about the abuse and torture they endured inside and outside police stations, lawyers who were assaulted, and released prisoners. Adalah submitted testimonies as complaints to the Israeli Police Investigations Unit (“Mahash”), all of which were closed without exception, illustrating the sweeping impunity provided by the state.

One year after the May 2021 events, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced the establishment of a National Guard, a decision that is being advanced by the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. The National Guard will be composed of Israel’s Border Police, army reservists, and civilian volunteers, who will be subordinate to the National Security Minister.
 
Adalah sent a letter on 2 April 2023 to the Attorney General, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of National Security, demanding that the government refrain from establishing this "National Guard”, as it will entrench the maintenance of two separate law enforcement systems based on ethnic and national affiliation, and institutionalize an extremely dangerous cooperation between armed Jewish-Israeli civilians and the police, as we witnessed during the May 2021 events.