Mounted Police Should Not be Used to Disperse Protests
- ACRI
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
On August 18, 2025, ACRI filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding that the police be prohibited from using mounted units to disperse demonstrations—or, at the very least, that the procedures governing the use of mounted units be amended in such a way that would ensure the safety of demonstrators, including prohibiting the use of mounted units together with other crowd‑control measures, conditioning the use of mounted units on the existence of an escape route for demonstrators, and prohibiting the use of reins to whip demonstrators.
The petition describes how, in recent years, police procedures regarding the use of mounted units at demonstrations have been relaxed, allowing officers to be reckless in their use of the horses. The petition also details numerous instances in which mounted units were used in violation of the procedures, with intense and indiscriminate violence against demonstrators. Demonstrators have been knocked down by horses and trampled underfoot, whipped and beaten with batons by mounted officers, and in some cases they sustained physical and psychological injuries.
The petition argues that the use of horses and mounted officers to disperse demonstrations exceeds the reasonable use of force and disproportionately violates the rights of demonstrators to bodily integrity, personal security, human dignity, and freedom of expression and protest. It further argues that the use of mounted units creates a chilling effect that deters demonstrators and the general public from exercising their rights, thereby undermining the fundamental principles underlining democracy.
Additionally, we requested that the hearing on ACRI petition, which focuses on violations of human rights, be consolidated with the hearing on the petition filed by the organization Let the Animals Live, which focuses on the harm caused to the horses as a result of their use in dispersing demonstrations.
On March 19, 2026, after a hearing on the petition, the Supreme Court instructed the police to refine and clarify its procedures regarding the use of mounted units to disperse demonstrations. The police were asked to publish a transparent procedure accessible to the public. The procedure must include instructions for submitting complaints and address, among other things, the obligation to ensure that demonstrators have escape routes, the prohibition or restriction on mounted units ascending sidewalks, restrictions on the use of additional crowd‑control measures together with mounted units, and restrictions on the use of force by mounted officers. The Supreme Court also instructed the police to provide details about steps that have been taken or that will be taken to gather information and draw lessons from incidents in which demonstrators were harmed by mounted units.
The police presented the Court with a revised procedure on August 19, 2026. It includes a number of important changes: an explicitly-stated obligation to ensure that protesters and those present have a means and opportunity to get away; it conditions the movement of mounted police on a sidewalk with the approval of the commander of the force and the existence of an operational need; and adds a system for collecting information about injuries caused by mounted police officers and horses and for conducting an investigation in cases of serious injury or concerns about deviations from the procedures. However, the changes do not provide solutions to a significant portion of the issues that the petition raised and the issues that the Supreme Court ordered the police to regulate. It still grants the police broad discretion when it comes to using mounted police on sidewalks, in conjunction with stun grenades, and using batons and reins against protesters. The systems and processes for transparency and analysis also remain incomplete.
HCJ 44742-08-25 Association for Civil Rights in Israel v. Israel Police
Attorney: Nitsan Ilani
The petition, August 18, 2025 (Heb)
Preliminary response on behalf of the police, March 2026 (Heb)
The decision, March 19, 2026 (Heb)
Updated announcement from the police (including the revised procedure), August 2026 (Heb)
The petition was written with the assistance of Attorney Eden Gilad and interns Yaser Abu Areesha and Yotam Rotfeld, as well as with the assistance of Sivan Tahel and Sassi Ratzon.
