At 1:15 p.m. on the afternoon of October 6, Ansar Aasi, 25, was stocking supplies at the cleaning products company where he was employed in al-Bireh, a Palestinian city adjacent to Ramallah. Watch at 22 seconds into the video, as Aasi begins to exit the warehouse; taking one step onto the street he then cautiously retreats into the enclosed storage facility. Pensively he waits and watches the street. Ten seconds later Aasi raises his open palms. He has been spotted and targeted for arrest by Israeli soldiers ostensibly on the hunt for Palestinian stone throwers. In the scene that follows Aasi is violently mauled by a group of soldiers as one stands guard outside.
By 55 seconds, four soldiers are inside the warehouse with Aasi and one outside. Aasi is offscreen with one of those soldiers – backed into a corner – we can’t see him. At 1:21 two of the soldiers are offscreen with Aasi as a 5th soldier enters the warehouse. At 1:36 the sixth soldier enters. By 2:09 one of the soldiers pulls another soldier off Aasi — but it is not clear why nor what the soldiers are doing huddled around Aasi’s form. Aasi’s leg is seen protruding from the mass and a soldier is yanking at it and then begins kicking him at 2:43. At least 4 soldiers are offscreen and they drag Aasi out by the legs. One soldier snaps a photo, another rams his rifle into Aasi (4:26) 6 or 7 times as he squirms on the ground. Another soldier kicks Aasi in the head repeatedly.
The next day Ansar ‘Aasi was admitted into Hadassah Ein Karem hospital for treatment of wounds he sustained. In total he spent 5 days incarcerated before he was released.
‘Aasi was held in detention for two days before even being taken for interrogation at the Binyamin police station. Police interrogators there told him that three soldiers identified him as a stone thrower. In spite of his denials, the police did not bother to check his alibi claim, in spite of the existence of footage. Only following an arrest extension hearing at the Ofer military court, was the police willing to view the footage, which was brought to them on Friday, 9.10.2015. ‘Aasi was released unconditionally on Sunday, 11.10, after five days in wrongful detention.
B’Tselem does not know whether the soldiers who arrested ‘Aasi were held accountable for assaulting him and making up false charges.
And yet, Aasi is a lucky guy. Why? Because the day before, in another case of ‘mistaken identity’, Israeli forces shot 13-year-old Abed Obeidallah in the chest, killing him almost instantly. Because Aasi’s violent arrest and abduction, caught on camera, confirmed his alibi. How rare, how rare indeed.
I saw this horrible attack by the grotesquely armed- to- the- teeth IOF on an unarmed Palestinian man earlier today.
It makes me sick. They make me sick. What made me cry was the fear that was evident in this young man as he was going about his work, peering into the street. He was viciously beaten and arrested and incarcerated for being a peaceful Palestinian. For too long I have heard Israelis lament and shed crocodile tears that there is no Palestinian Gandhi. No Palestinian Gandhi could survive the brutal Israelis unless he or she is protected by the international community. As a matter of fact, no Israeli Gandhi could survive the vicious horde, either. It’s simply a fact that Israel has never wanted peace with the Palestinians of Palestine.
Thank you, Annie.
I’m tempted to see this “gang beating” and others as a mark of poor discipline, but since I suspect that these activities are being encouraged by their officers I doubt that is the case.
Also is anyone surprised that the killings of Jews as suspected “terrorists” has garnered so little reaction from the Jewish Israeli public? In fact Lapid said a few days ago that if the price of viligence was a few dead Jews that was fine with him. Well, he didn’t say it quite like that but that was the message delivered. I don’t know if it is better or worse that people there are perfectly willing to kill their own to get “quiet.”
Well, great to see that the quality of Pallywood productions has improved to the point that they now dupe the Israeli police. Fortunately MEMRI, CAMERA and Daniel Pipes are still there to take apart Palestinian lies.
That goi is a disgrace. These thugs wont receive a reprimand or anything. The entire state of Israel carries the shame of these criminals.
While the world bemoans filthy feet, the oppressors beat and kill innocent defenseless captives. Those captives dont fight back and kill because they are Jews but because they are brutal thugs, criminals and oppressors
Israelis love to say that Israel is a country of laws. Yet videos like this show that all it takes is a false accusation of a bunch of bigoted cops to land someone in jail with a beating without any proof.
All it takes is someone to yell “terrorist” for an instant death sentence to be administered without any proof or due process.
Not even going to bring up that “country of laws” doesn’t necessarily mean justice/lawfulness. Apartheid South Africa was also a country of laws, Apartheid laws. Just like Israel.