A chilling video has been published by Palestinian activists on the YouTube page of Kareem Asakra, showing Palestinians being shot while protesting near Ramallah. The video includes the voices of Hebrew speakers, purportedly between an Israeli sniper and his commanding officer. The officer is heard praising, encouraging, and congratulating the sniper. Ma’an News is reporting Israeli soldier praised for shooting protesters in video footage:
[T]he officer congratulates the sniper for shooting a Palestinian “in his butt.” In other scenes, he repeatedly says: “Wow, very cool,” after the sniper shoot and hits protesters.
“Come on, you are allowed to shoot,” the officer urges the sniper, after which the sniper fires a shot and says: “I got him! I got him!”
In a later scene, the officer asks: “Did you hit him?” to which the sniper replies: “Of course I did, bro.”
Palestinians say they found the camera with the footage, allegedly dropped by a soldier at the scene of the clashes.
Ma’an reports the video, the authenticity of which has yet to be confirmed, also shows soldiers “climbing into an Israeli military jeep, appearing to show the interior of the vehicle”, a view likely not accessed by a Palestinian. The Israeli military is “looking into the reports”.
Palestinians, who are routinely shot and often killed while protesting the occupation, say the footage refutes the Israeli military claim “that Israeli forces only opened fire on Palestinians posing an imminent threat.”
There is no visual indication the Palestinians shot in the video were posing an imminent threat to soldiers. The Hebrew voices captured in the recording do not sound alarmed, scared or threatened.
The video, published yesterday, has already received over 10,000 views:
Thanks to Ofer Neiman
Since there was one constant voice would he be the one filming? A commanding officer who somehow lost his camera!
“Imminent threat” my a$$. Young men in Palestine legitimately protesting endless occupation, endless theft of resources, endless dispossession, endless israeli violence, endless humiliation in *their* land by invaders.
i think this is a huge story btw. it’s not that we don’t know they do this, but this feels like proof to me. the guy literally eggs him on. it’s like a hunt or something, for sport. it’s so gross. i hope someone puts subtitles on this video. i want to read the words when they are spoken. and the fact of the ending, getting into the jeep — this is a view only a soldier would have. of course, it could have been faked i suppose. let’s see what the military has to say about this, if they deny it.
The video strikes me as authentic, and appears to be part of the operation, as it is perfectly coordinated with the commander’s orders, filming exactly what he is talking about at any given moment.
There is a constant voice, evidently that of the commander, and a number of other voices, apparently of other soldiers and perhaps the shooter himself.
The commander’s tone is professional — telling the shooter (or shooters?) when it is permissible to fire (although it seems clear that it is not live ammunition) and when it is not. The 2 criteria seem to be whether the target is standing (permissible) or crouching (not permissible) and whether the target is attempting to throw a stone/use a slingshot. When it is permissible he points it out and encourages the shooter and commends him for a job well done when he succeeds in hitting the target. It’s the kind of tone a boss or supervisor would use, overseeing any task.
The cheering that is heard at one point (“What a hit!”, etc.) is not the commander but, apparently other soldiers.
Aḥi (translated “bro” in the article) is just the way soldiers (and young men in general, in Israel) refer to each other.
Has this made it to mainstream media yet? Why do I expect it won’t happen? And even if it does, Zionists and neocon media will just say its Pallywood. Americans by and large don’t really care about what Israel does to Palestinians. I wish it wasn’t so. They would care if they knew what Israel has done to them over the years.
It would be interesting how things would look if Palestinians had the same weapons as the IOF and the IOF had only stones. There would be an accord in no time.
All of the “yafe ma’od (very good!) is disgusting.