A Tel Aviv judge threw out the conviction of police Supt. Meir Suissa on Thursday, shortly after he was found guilty of throwing a stun grenade at anti-government protesters in 2023.

As permitted under a plea deal Suissa struck with prosecutors, the officer confessed to having thrown a stun grenade into the crowd, was found guilty of reckless and negligent behavior, then swiftly appealed his conviction.

Yaron Gat, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court judge presiding over Suissa’s case, said in his decision accepting the appeal that he believed the officer had “proven his innocence,” Ynet reported.

The favorable ruling for Suissa paved the way for him to be promoted in rank, which National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has been seeking since the policeman was indicted over two years ago.

Still, Suissa had to pay a total of NIS 12,000 ($3,825) in damages to two women he injured. The two complainants were to receive NIS 10,000 ($3,188) and NIS 2,000 ($638) respectively.

Gat stressed in his ruling that the overturned conviction does not “minimize the severity of the harm to the victims of the offense” and wished them “complete physical and mental recovery.”

The ruling brought an end to a nearly three-year process that began at a March 2023 anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, during which cops hurled stun grenades straight into crowds of people, injuring protesters.

Suissa, the police commander at the demonstration, and four other........

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