Footage of Israeli soldiers violently beating and insulting a Palestinian father and son during an arrest in January was released on Tuesday by an Israeli district court, according to Haaretz.
In the video, filmed by one soldier, four soldiers from the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion are seen repeatedly beating the blindfolded and handcuffed father and son over the head, kicking them, and hitting them with their weapons.
The soldiers can be heard laughing and mocking the pair, saying “it’s a celebration” and “say hello” to the camera.
The incident took place on January 8th, weeks after two soldiers from the Netzah Yehuda battalion were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers on video, reportedly friends of the two killed in December, had allegedly arrested the father and son on suspicions they were connected to the December attack, though it was later found the two were innocent and had no involvement in the attack.
Haaretz reported that the two Palestinians, whose identities remain unknown, were too badly beaten and could not withstand interrogations, and were thus taken to Israel’s Shaare Tzedek Medical Center shortly after the incident.
One of the two was so badly injured that he was hospitalized for three days.
The high-profile case came to a head on Sunday when the court convicted four of the five soldiers on charges of aggravated abuse. They are expected to serve six months in prison.
Meanwhile, the fifth soldier, purportedly the one who filmed the abuse, was convicted of abuse and sentenced to just two months in prison for the “relatively minor” role he played, Haaretz reported.
Haaretz added that the commander of the soldiers was indicted last month for “failure to prevent a crime, negligently causing injury and conduct unbecoming an officer,” resulting in his suspension.
“The commander noticed his soldiers enacting harsh violence against the Palestinian detainees, while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, and despite this did not prevent them from continuing to beat them,” Haaretz quoted the indictment as saying.
While the case of the five soldiers has made waves in Israeli media as a one-off case of soldiers trying to avenge the death of their friends, Palestinians are saying it is more of a reflection of the policies of the Israeli army in general.
And while it is rare that soldiers are actually convicted for their abuse of Palestinians, the beating, harassment, and humiliation of Palestinian detainees during their arrest is commonplace.
Rights groups have long document the rights violations that take place during the arrest of Palestinians, including children.
Defense for Children International — Palestine (DCIP) has said the following of Israel’s detention of Palestinian minors:
“The majority of children are detained from their West Bank homes during the middle of the night by heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Several hours after their arrest, children arrive at an interrogation and detention center alone, sleep deprived and often bruised and scarred. Interrogations tend to be coercive, including a variety of verbal abuse, threats and physical violence that ultimately result in a confession.”
The Nazis were also sadists, and extremely cruel people. It seems the world’s most “moral” military keeps showing their vicious side, over and over again. Whether it is by precision bomb, snipers, or physical force, they never fail to give the world one more reason for Israel to be disliked. We can only imagine the outrage had this situation been reversed, and the victims were Israelis. They are brilliant at “outrage” too.
Most moral army of the world.
Israel has a right to defend itself.
They are Hamas terrorists.
Sorry, ran out of Hasbara idiocies.
One of the core tenets of Zionism is the belief that the religion-based identity of Jewish grants to those who choose to hold it the “right” to do unto others acts of injustice and immorality they would not have others do unto them.
Evidently some Zionists enjoy asserting that “right” more than others.
“While the case of the five soldiers has made waves in Israeli media as a one-off case of soldiers trying to avenge the death of their friends, Palestinians are saying it is more of a reflection of the policies of the Israeli army in general.”
It’s ‘made waves’ that will no doubt raise the ire of the bastards who believe the soldiers were too gentle with these ‘enemies’ and should not be punished, but applauded for their bravery and holding back from meting out the correct punishment for the ‘animals’, which is of course death. Maybe they’ll get their pictures on the grocery bags at the zionist grocery chain like the murdering medic SOB before them? His murder was on video and he became in instant superstar.
This is israel (and america too) – there is no justice and there is no honor except among the martyrs of this illegal enterprise.
Meanwhile, back in the old country, the zionist enablers and general all-around good ol’ boys and girls of a uniquely american-made brand of terrorism, are hounding Ilhan Omar for being a black muslim hijabi-wearing woman who had the unmitigated gall to speak the truth and ask some questions. They are getting the lynch mob ready.
Folks, we are dealing with the new Nazis:
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/israeli-squatters-uproot-dozens-palestinian.html
“Israeli Squatters Uproot Dozens of Olive Trees in Palestinian Nablus”
Maan News Agency
03/13/2019
NABLUS (Ma’an) — “A group of Israeli settlers uprooted dozens of Palestinian-owned olive trees, on Tuesday, in an agricultural area near the Burin village, south of the northern occupied West Bank.
“Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that Israeli settlers from the illegal Yitzhar settlement stormed an agricultural area near the main road of the settlement.
“Daghlas pointed out that about 33 olive trees were uprooted by Israeli forces and belong to Palestinian resident, Castro Mahmoud Qadrous.
“According to a report by Israeli NGO B’Tselem, Israeli settlers’ vandalism in the occupied West Bank is a daily routine and is fully backed by Israeli authorities.
“In just over two months, from the beginning of May to 7 July 2018, B’Tselem documented 10 instances in which settlers destroyed a total of more than 2,000 trees and grapevines and burned down a barley field and bales of hay.
“B’Tselem also argued that under the guise of a ‘temporary military occupation,’ Israel has been ‘using the land as its own: robbing land, exploiting the area’s natural resources for its own benefit and establishing permanent settlements,’ estimating that Israel had dispossessed Palestinians from some 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of lands in the occupied Palestinian territory over the years.
“Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.”