France seeks Israel’s help to quash anti-police brutality protests

Middle East Monitor  /  July 3, 2023

Israel Police has received a request from the French police to help them deal with the protests that have swept the country since police shot and killed a 17-year-old French-Algerian boy at point blank range last week.

Deputy head of the Operations Division of the Israeli police, Shimon Nahmani, announced the request during a hearing of the National Security Committee in the Israeli Knesset.

According to  Israel Today newspaper: “The Israeli Police Commission received a fax from the French police to inquire about how to manage the crisis they are dealing with.”

The newspaper pointed out that “Israeli Police Commissioner Yaakov ‘Kobi’ Shabtai gave orders, during the weekly meeting of the police leadership on Sunday morning, to the operations and intelligence departments to study the causes of the series of events in France, and how the police acted before, during and after the event.”

There was no immediate comment from the French authorities regarding the Israeli statements.

Since the evening of 27 June, protests have erupted against the killing of Nahel M. in the suburb of Nanterre, west of Paris.