AP outraged as photographer beaten by Israeli police

An Associated Press photographer was pushed and beaten by Israeli police in an unprovoked attack while covering a protest in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood, sending him to the hospital with head injuries.

The AP said it was outraged by the violence against staffer Mahmoud Illean, while a prominent journalists’ advocacy group called for disciplinary action against the officers involved.

Illean had been covering a weekly demonstration in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where longtime Palestinian residents are battling efforts by Jewish settlers to evict them from their homes.

The case, which has drawn global attention and fueled Israeli-Palestinian tensions, has been before Israel’s Supreme Court for months.

According to Illean, Friday’s demonstration was relatively quiet, with only minor scuffles between Israel’s paramilitary border police and protesters.

He said that about 15 minutes after the demonstration wrapped up, he was approached by a group of border police officers who threw stun grenades toward him.

Video from the scene shows Illean standing in front of a white car when one of the officers approaches him, pushes him backward onto the ground and then proceeds to punch him several times.

A second video showed Illean photographing police attacking several other journalists before the officer turned on him. Illean’s face was bleeding and he was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital for X-rays.