Footage released by an Israeli human rights group
Israel's defence minister has condemned an incident caught on film in which a soldier seems to shoot a rubber bullet at a bound and blindfolded Palestinian.
Ehud Barak said the case was "grave and wrong" and that the military would exact the full extent of the law.
Footage released by human rights group B'Tselem on Sunday shows the detainee being held by one soldier as another fires at his legs at close range.
The Palestinian man has said the rubber bullet hit his left big toe.
A 14-year-old girl reportedly filmed the incident on 7 July from the window of her home in the town of Nilin, which has been the scene of violent protests against the West Bank barrier.
Immediately afterwards, an inquiry was conducted by the brigade commander responsible, but no action was taken, reports say.
'Edited parts'
However, after examining the footage on Sunday, the Israeli military advocate general ordered military police to open an investigation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also issued a statement calling the incident "grave" and in "direct contradiction" of its values.
 |  Warriors do not behave like this  Ehud Barak Israeli Defence Minister |
In televised remarks to Labour Party MPs on Monday, Mr Barak promised that those involved would be held to account.
"[The] incident was a grave and wrong one and is not indicative of the IDF's norms. The military will exact the full extent of the law in this case," he said.
"Warriors do not behave like this."
Earlier, military spokeswoman Maj Avital Leibovitz said questions remained "about the edited parts" of the video, referring to a moment shortly after the weapon is fired, when the camera moves away briefly before showing the Palestinian detainee lying on the ground.
A spokeswoman for rights group B'Tselem, Sarit Michaeli, said the girl had accidentally stopped filming when she was startled by the gunshot and continued as soon as she became aware she had pressed the stop button.
The group also said the footage appeared to contradict a statement by the soldier's commander, who was present at the scene.
The Israeli military originally said that the lieutenant colonel had been unaware of the incident and that the door of his patrol vehicle had blocked his line of sight.
However, the footage appears to show him holding the Palestinian detainee's arm when the shot is fired. The Jerusalem Post also reports that the commander told the soldier: "Shoot him, shoot him."Not much reason to comment, I am just repeating myself again and again. The video clip posted here is taken from youtube because I couldn't imbed the clip posted on the BBC. It's the same clip, just that this one is a bit longer and has an audio dub of the girl who filmed it explaining why there is a jump in the video after the shot. It also has a really annoying cell phone ringtone going off in the background, so sorry for that.
5 comments:
Um, that's awful.
Disgusting. :( While this is small potatoes to what Hezbollah and Hamas do to their prisoners and hostages, this is still indefensible. If we're going to hold palestinian militants to any kind of a moral standard, then Israel and the IDF had better damn well exemplify them, or they don't mean a thing.
Re:"This is small potatoes..."
Umm, well not really. This is exactly why we keep arguing. Hamas and Hezbollah certainly torture hostage and prisoners, no questions. However, most of Hama's torture occurs against other Palestinians...not that that makes a difference. And overall both groups are more likely to kill than capture. With the exception of capturing soldiers and politicians for ransom or exchange Palestinian groups gave up hostage taking in the 1980s.
Israel, though, detains and tortures Palestinians way more than Hamas and Hezbollah have ever abducted or tortured Israelis. Read the Amnesty International or even the reports from the US Department of State. Hamas and Hezbollah do deplorable things, but it's not like what the IDF or other security in Gaza and the West Bank do is "small potatoes."
If you are curious here is a link:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100597.htm
If you look at it be sure to scroll down to the section of one the Occupied Territories. Israel ain't that bad if you live in Israel proper and are a citizen (even for Arab citizens). It just sucks ass to the nth degree if you happen to be living under occupation.
I dunno, Reed... Getting shot in the big toe with a rubber bullet *is* small potatoes compared to, say, getting thrown off of a 7 story building, or getting shot in the face with a 7.62 FMJ round from an AK. If you had to choose one...
In any case, there's absolutely no justification for what these folks did. I don't see how there's an argument to be had: We both agree that this is unacceptable behavior, right?
Indeed.
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