The video was provided by B’Tselem and happened in Hebron yesterday. It shows a Palestinian suspected of an attack lying on the ground injured. Ambulances move about as an injured Israeli soldier is provided medical support. Armed Israeli civilians can be seen moving about. The suspect is lying on the ground and does not move except to turn his head. Then at 1:50, a uniformed Israeli soldier walks over, cocks his weapon and shoots the suspect in the head. Israeli civilians then walk up and begin taking pictures of the body.
46% of Israelis social media users were supportive of the soldiers’ actions after seeing the video.
B’Tselem describes the incident which occurred yesterday:
This morning, according to media reports, Palestinians Ramzi al-Qasrawi and ‘Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif were shot after stabbing a soldier in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. The soldier sustained medium-level injuries. While al-Qasrawi died on the spot, a-Sharif was injured and fell to the ground. In video footage captured by Hebron resident ‘Emad abu-Shamsiyah, who sent it to B’Tselem, he is seen lying on the road injured, with none of the soldiers or medics present giving him first aid or paying him any attention at all. At a certain point, a soldier is seen aiming his weapon at a-Sharif and shooting him in the head from close range, killing him. Although this occurs in the plain view of other soldiers and officers, they do not seem to take any notice.
The IDF has begun an investigation and the soldier will reportedly be charged with murder. He is claiming self-defense and that he believed his “life was in danger”.
Over the past few months, Israeli security personnel and civilians have killed dozens of Palestinians they claim perpetrated or were about to perpetrate a stabbing attack with a knife or screwdriver. B’Tselem has recorded at least a dozen instances of use of excessive force, calling many of them killings extra-judicial executions.
Israeli PM Netanyahu has condemned the actions of the soldier in this instance. However, prior statements by senior government officials have created an environment ripe for such abuse:
The Israeli defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, urged the use of lethal force against Palestinian assailants at a nationally televised news conference Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proper response, he said, was to “bring about the liquidation of the terrorist stabber or attacker, the stone-thrower and the like, immediately and on the spot.”
Ya’aon has previously condemned human rights groups such as Breaking the Silence for having “malicious motives” and “tarnishing the IDF” by releasing soldiers’ testimonies. Israeli forces have also in recent weeks launched attacks at Gaza, including one that killed two siblings, one 6 years old and another 10:
Israel was avenging the firing of four Qassam rockets into Israel hours earlier. The rockets landed in open areas and caused no damage. Between Friday and Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Israel Air Force planes struck four targets, “Hamas terror installations.”
The plane flew over Beit Lahia, and the pilot released the bombs. The hits were good. The screen in the plane did not show Yassin, dead, nor Israa, dying.
One of the terror installations was the house of Israa and Yassin Abu Khoussa.
Other Israeli politicians have expressed similar sentiments:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his “zero tolerance for terror” last month. Interior Minister Gilad Erdan declared that “every terrorist should know that he will not survive the attack he is about to commit.” Jerusalem police chief Moshe Edri said, “Anyone who stabs Jews or hurts innocent people is due to be killed.” Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid said, “You have to shoot to kill anyone who pulls out a knife or screwdriver.” And Nir Barkat called on Israeli civilians to carry their guns.
During a prior controversy over the use of excessive force by Israeli security personnel, Netanyahu tweeted this:
This particular incident has led to an inquiry but numerous others have not lead to prosecutions.
Numerous other incidents have been caught on camera, including one where Israeli border police shot and injured 11 year old Khalid Shtaiwi:
Video footage shot by Abdullah Shtaiwi, a volunteer for the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, shows a boy pounding the asphalt repeatedly, screaming in pain or terror, trying to get up, crawling forward and collapsing again. It’s not easy to watch. Then a man is seen running toward him, picking him up and trying to extricate him from this hellish situation. But then he too collapses, shot by Israeli troops while trying to evacuate the boy. The live rounds were fired by Border Police officers who lay in ambush for the Friday demonstrators in Kafr Kadum, adjacent to the settlement of Kedumim in the West Bank.
and these two incidents:
It’s enough to watch the atrocious shooting of Asra’a Abed in Afula, who stood still with a knife in her hand, surrounded by armed policemen who drew closer and closer to her, one of them licking an ice-lolly, until they finally fired several bullets into her from short range, instead of taking control of her and disarming her. It looks like murder. Those policemen were too cowardly or revenge-thirsty and for that they deserve to go on trial, not a citation. Even more ghoulish appears the execution of Fadi Alon in Jerusalem. After he threw down the knife with which he had stabbed and injured a Jewish youth, he tried to flee from the angry rabble toward the policemen, while the mob incited the policemen with gutter language to kill him. Responding to the riff raff’s request, the policemen shot the youngster to death, for no reason, then rolled his body into the road.