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Camera Captures More IDF Abuse
Several weeks ago, I went to a protest in Bil'in. This small West Bank village organizes protests every Friday against the wall that separates them from their land, their families, and their basic necessities.
Bil'in resident Ashraf Abu Rahme was shot at a similar protest two weeks ago, after he was already handcuffed and blindfolded. The footage was shot by a 14-year-old Palestinian girl from the window of her home and was then turned over to Israeli NGO B'Tselem. The NGO then released copies of the footage to media outlets and the Israeli government.
Read more about it here.
Since the above footage was released by B'Tselem, a government investigation was launched about the incident. The IDF's reaction was predictable.
Haaretz says:
The IDF originally said that Lieutenant Colonel Omri was unaware of the incident and that the door of his patrol vehicle blocked his line of vision. However, the footage seems to counter his claims.
Yawn. Try harder.
Then, when they realized that the footage could in no way corroborate this story, they tried again:
"This is an inappropriate incident which is against the IDF's values," an IDF spokesperson said yesterday. "Army regulations strictly prohibit the abuse of detainees and require their fair and honorable treatment. After examining the footage, the Military Advocate General, Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, ordered military police to open an investigation into the incident."
The soldier was arrested, but beyond that I know not.
I doubt this will be the last footage we see about this type of incident:
As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year.
Crowd Power
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tomilaineclark
Tel Aviv, Israel




Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 01:07 on July 22nd, 2008
tomilaineclark, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Very well done!
at 06:09 on July 22nd, 2008
tomilaineclark, I like this story. It's good stuff.