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Comment by ch4s3 | Hacker News Reader

The operative quote from the article is: "no Arabic-speaking officer had read the man’s Facebook post."

This reminds me of the kind of alarmist, ham fisted policing we often see in America, where police will barge into an elderly person's home and trash the place because they forgot to double check the address.

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I would consider obvious it'd be enormously advantageous for Israeli police to have, at least, a basic understanding of Arabic.

It's like a Miami policemen without any Spanish/Portuguese knowledge.

A lot of them do, it's very common for Israeli's to be fluent in Arabic. But not all of them obviously.

And in this case, considering what someone with evil intent and a bulldozer can do, I can understand arrest first, figure out what's going on second.

It's not like arresting someone after the fact - in that situation you can take some time. Here it's before the fact, and seconds count.

A typical bulldozer has a top speed of less than 10 mph. I reckon they had time to think.

You'd think they'd take the 30s required grab literally the first person in the office they could find who can understand the language it's written in.

Moreover, how did they arrest him without someone speaking a modicum of Arabic? Or did they just run into his home and snatch him by force?

I personally find this kind of behavior by the armed representatives of government to be horribly undemocratic.

Useful to whom? Often times the police aren't really there to be helpful to minorities. You'd think Miami Police would know a bit of Spanish just out of sheer necessity but in reality very little do. I'm not surprised at all that more Israeli police don't speak any Arabic

Spanish speaking people are definitely _not_ a minority down here in Miami hehe.

I took the time to look this up. Miami is 70% hispanic of any race according to 2010 census.

Though that doesn't mean 70% of Miamians only speak Spanish.

Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+demographics

However, it's quite possible that a plurality speaks at least Spanish.

Being able to know folks are saying around you is a survival skill for jobs like law enforcement.

Minorities are usually defined in terms of power rather than sheer numbers.

I don't subscribe to that nonsense lol, but I realize that's the normal definition.

The mayor of Miami, Tomás Pedro Regalado was born in Cuba, and 3 of the 6 city commissioners were either born in Cuba or born to Cuban parents. The city commissioners are:

* Wifredo "Willy" Gort - born in Cuba, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Gort

* Ken Russell - born in Coral Gables, FL, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/a... . Does not appear to have a Cuban connection.

* Frank Carollo - born in Miami of Cuban-born parents, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/a...

* Francis Suarez - born in Miami. His father Xavier Suarez, Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor in 1985, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/a...

* Keon Hardemon - born in Miami, "scion of one of Liberty City’s most politically active families and the son of a Miami police officer", http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/a... . Does not appear to have a Cuban connection.

I think that helps demonstrate local majority political power.

This is unsurprising considering the US / Israeli Police coordination. [1] Additionally many similar cases of Israeli police being repressive against Palestinians have been well documented [2].

[1] https://theintercept.com/2017/09/15/police-israel-cops-train...

[2] https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-a...

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