A shocking video from Israel’s Channel 10 and picked up by Al Quds shows an assault by an Israeli soldier on Palestinian laborers in 2009. The soldier was 19 and was convicted of the assault three weeks ago. His weapon of choice was an M-16.
Our friend Shmuel provides this translation:
The report (from Chanel 10) describes the attacker as “Kfir Brigade soldier on leave, Michael Gershkovitz”. The incident occurred on 16 April 2009, outside the settlement of Petzael in the Jordan Valley (captured on security camera), and Gershkovitz was tried (indicted a few months after the incident) for “wounding and inflicting grievous bodily harm”. In his defense he blamed “flashbacks” from the extreme violence he had witnessed during his service in the Territories.
Shmuel consulted the court records:
He was convicted on 7/7/13. The summary doesn’t say what the sentence was but that he confessed, that his age at the time (19 and 1 month) was taken into account, that he was followed by a parole board (he is now working as a barman in Eilat) and that attempts were made to reach a settlement with the victims.
According to the report, the attack was completely unprovoked. Gershkovitz just drove up to a group of Palestinian workers waiting to be picked up by their employers, took out his M-16 and started to beat them.
Ofer Neiman says an Israeli NGO states that the soldier received a two-month sentence.
A soldier on leave treats Palestinians in the Jordan valley like punching bags, breaking 4 teeth of one of them. And it is no coincidence that he feels entitled, that he will not have to pay the price for his actions. He is right. The judge gives him a shockingly light sentence: two months in prison and four months of community service.
Here is a translation by online translation services of the Al Quds story:
This video aired by Channel 10 shows a brutal assault. The assailant is reportedly an Israeli soldier in civilian clothes.
According to the video channel that aired a few hours ago, the soldier, who was wearing civilian clothes, approaches the car with a number of Palestinian workers who work at a nearby settlement, returns to his car and gets his weapon and without any reason started beating them one by one.
The announcer on says the original video shows a ten minute attack, striking workers, and says, “violence is not restricted.” It says that a number of workers have complained against the soldier and “a military court sentenced him to only two months.”
The extreme violence he witnessed. Was that violence perpetrated by Israelis on Palestinians.
We don’t hear too much about Palestinians committing violent acts against the IDF or settlers, so I’m a little lost as to how we could use this as any kind of excuse.
“In his defense he blamed “flashbacks” from the extreme violence he had witnessed during his service in the Territories.”
Assuming this is true then the fellow is obviously too tender-hearted to be a thug for the empire. Or perhaps he just likes beating people up.
Here Israel caught a break, he could have taken out his frustrations by walking into a bank and blowing half a dozen people away.
They have this video as a major story on all the TV channels in the mid east today – stations have been airing it every half hour during headline summery time. I watched it only once while I was having my morning coffee. I don’t mind to tell you that it made my blood boil to the point where I wanted to punch the jugular of that gestapo in civilian clothing.
And I don’t buy the “flashback” trauma spin. This is exactly what happens to people who are proudly immersed in a culture built by paranoia, predatory violence and bizarre subconscious guilt. We’ve seen this kind of despicable and senseless assault on innocent Palestinians from millions of israelis over the past 65 years. We’ve heard a long litany of hasbara excuses justifying their grotesque sadism.
I challenge any zionist on the face of the earth to watch the linked video and deny the brutal nazism practiced by israelis.
He got 2 month in jail and 4 month community services.
Transliterating Hebrew may be tricky in the case of vowels, but I think that Gerschkowitz served in Kfir Brigade (Lion Cubs) and not in Kefir Brigade (highly recommended Bulgarian beverage made of fermented milk). Wiki has a quite informative entry about Kfir Brigade. Its task is to control various areas in West Bank, and the training is for “anti-terrorism and urban warfare”. The Wiki entry has a link to an article in Jerusalem Post. I found two passages to be interesting:
I am always more interested in the “norm” than in “incidents”. Here I was quite shocked that Dan was shocked. What kind of mindset experiences a shock upon being ordered to treat people “with respect”: without spitting and swearing at them? Recruits in Kfir Brigade spend seven months in training prior to deployment, and apparently during those seven months they are not prepared to treat people normally.