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ISRAELI SOLDIER DETAINED AFTER SHOOTING PALESTINIAN

Why a fresh "Israel Hillel Torah Peace Policy" is needed


An Israeli soldier is being detained on charges of manslaughter after shooting a Palestinian man suspected of stabbing one IDF solider just outside of the town of Hebron.

It is another peak of confrontation and frustration- including the PLO.

Israel and Palestine must start a fresh peace policy in 2016 – why?

 

 

 

What has happened in Hebron?

A video surfaced of the IDF soldier shooting the man in the head as he lay motionless on the ground and has aroused serious anger on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. The Israeli military recognized the seriousness of its soldier’s action calling it a “grave breach” of Israeli military values and standards.

The ordeal began when an Israeli soldier was stabbed and wounded by two Palestinian men. Such events have become fairly regular occurrences in Hebron and its surrounding villages.

 

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After tweeting about the initial stabbing, the IDF followed with a tweet saying that Israeli forces had shot the assailants.

 

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The video that stormed the internet unleashed a virtual hailstorm on Instagram and Twitter and was immediately condemned by many pro-Palestinian human rights groups. It shows an IDF solider standing over the Palestinian man on the ground before cocking his gun and shooting him in the head. The man’s hand visibly twitches in the video and it can be reasonably assumed that he was still alive at the time of the second shooting.

 

Abed al-Fatah al-Sharif, age 21, was later identified as the Palestinian who was shot for a second time in the video.

 

In the Aftermath

The last six-months have seen an uptick in violence in the West Bank and Israel with a reported 30 people, two Americans and the rest Israeli, who have been killed by Palestinians since October when the violence first began escalating. An estimated total of approximately 180 Palestinians deaths have occurred in the same time period, all of which were carried out by IDF soldiers.

 

The New York Times quotes Lt. Col. Peter Lerner who said, “The I.D.F. views this incident as a grave breach of I.D.F. values, conduct and standards of military operations…a military police investigation has commenced and the soldier involved has been detained.”

 

The backlash from human rights groups has mainly focused on the use of disproportionate force displayed by the Israeli. Many groups claim that disproportionate force is standard procedure with IDF soldiers’ interactions with Palestinians.

 

Sarit Michaeli is a spokeswoman, for the Israeli rights organization B’tselem. She was quoted by The Times as blaming the “climate in Israel” with the escalation in the use of force for Palestinian attackers.  Michaeli goes on to say that with “virtually every politician condoning the notion [that Palestinian attackers should be killed on sight]”. “You cannot but have an impact on the soldiers on the ground.”

 

Michaeli also sums up the sentiments of many observers, ““the most shocking thing about the video, aside from the action of the soldiers, is the callous indifference of the soldiers and officers and members of security forces around him.”

 

As a general rule, Israeli politicians and policy makers are viciously opposed to the idea that their soldiers use disproportionate force when dealing with Palestinian civilians and assailants. Many claim the use of legitimate force when it comes to the deaths of Palestinians at the hands of military personnel.

 

The video also shows various medical personnel milling about in the background, seemingly without much urgency. Their presence have given rise to questions over the lack of medical treatment for the two Palestinians after they were first shot.

 

Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson told Israel Radio, “As far as the orders given to soldiers are concerned, the moment terrorists have been neutralized they are supposed to give medical treatment to the injured, even if they are terrorists.”

 

 

Photocredit: Flickr, Link to Photo.