Issa Amro (Top) with Lawrence Wright (Photo: @Issaamro - Twitter)

IDF Jails Soldier For Attacking Provocative Palestinian Activist

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The Judean Staff
Judicial

Another incident of a clash between Israel Defense Forces soldiers and activists patrolling Judea and Samaria took place Monday and ended once again in violence and in the removal of a soldier from his position, along with a military prison sentence.

An IDF soldier was recorded attacking Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist known to agitate emotional responses from soldiers and make certain cameras are nearby when it happens, while he was conducting a patrol in Hebron. The soldier is seen in a video distributed on social media by the Leftist organization โ€œBreaking the Silenceโ€ as he pushes Amro onto the sidewalk and when he falls to the ground the soldier is seen kicking him without justification. The event took place in front of the eyes of the staff of the "New Yorker" newspaper, including โ€œanti-occupationโ€ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright, who was with him on the tour at the time.

The IDF received the video and immediately conducted an investigation both in the soldierโ€™s unit and the regional division and said: "The incident will be investigated in a thorough and practical manner by the commanders. The investigation shows that a violent confrontation developed between a Palestinian and an IDF soldier in Hebron, during which the soldier beat the Palestinian. Following the conclusions of the investigation, the soldier was sentenced to ten days of confinement, at the end of which it will be decided whether he will continue his service as a soldier." The IDF spokesperson also stated that "the IDF takes any unnecessary violent behavior seriously and strongly condemns it."

This event took place in Hebron just weeks after two soldiers from the Givati brigade were removed and sentenced to prison because of a similar violent incident between them and anarchists who came to the area to provoke them. In this case as well, the IDF will further investigate and view the behavior of the soldiers with severity. As a result of the recent cases of soldiers unable to contain themselves in the face of provokers, a question arose as to whether patrolling-style missions are really a mission designed for soldiers and not for police officers who have more suitable training for civilian-dominated areas.

In the video released on Monday night, other soldiers are seen trying to calm the situation, unlike the previous incident a few weeks back. In the video, one Golani soldier is seen taking away the soldier who attacked Amro and asking him not to be dragged into provocation. The IDF did not ignore this footage either and still decided to send the soldier to prison and then bring him to another trial where he will likely be removed from combat duty.

There has been no video released of the moments leading up to the attack, all the videos online begin in what looks like the middle of the violence. Amro has been involved in incidents like these before and usually with a foreign audience watching. Multiple angles of the same incidents are then released through a myriad of social media accounts from 'Palestine Online' to "Times of Gaza' and through hundreds of 'support' accounts typically using the same wording as the original videos. Breaking The Silence typically works with the pro-Palestinian social media network of accounts to help their posts spread so that it becomes part of the platform's 'trending' topic.

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