POLICE IN PANAMA APOLOGIZED FOR THE ARAB TARGET PRACTICE CONTROVERSY

Sat 02 October 2021:

Panama’s police department issued an apology on Friday for taking part in an Israeli-run training exercise in which officers were shown shooting at targets that appeared to depict persons dressed in traditional Arab garb.

After images from the training surfaced, one of which showed a man pointing a rifle at an image of an armed person wearing what seemed to be an Arab headdress, the controversy erupted.

The National Police and the local Israeli chamber of commerce shared the photographs on Twitter, but they were eventually removed.

“We are respectful of cultural, religious and ethnic differences,” the police force said in a statement. “We regret that… a situation arose outside the nature of our mission and duty.”

The deleted Twitter posts had said the training was organized by the Israeli embassy in Panama.

The controversy drew a rebuke from the Panamanian Committee of Solidarity with Palestine, which said the course promoted “violence and racism, so that anyone who wears a hijab or something similar can be classified as a terrorist.”

(with agency)

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