Israeli soldier arrested for assaulting Palestinian activist in Hebron

• After assaulting a Palestinian activist who was trying to show a US journalist about Hebron.
• Israel’s minister of national security has backed the soldier wholeheartedly.
• The soldier was imprisoned in a military prison after an initial investigation.

After assaulting a Palestinian activist who was trying to show a US journalist about Hebron in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli soldier was sentenced to ten days in jail by the Israeli military.

Issa Amro is seen being thrown to the ground by the military in a video that Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker shared.

He then kicks Mr. Amro before being pushed away by a different soldier. Israel’s minister of national security has backed the soldier wholeheartedly.

According to Mr. Lawrence, whose post has received more than 7.5 million views, “I never had a source assaulted in front of me until today when an Israeli soldier who halted my interview did this.”

The journalist is also a best-selling author, and his book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 earned him a Pulitzer Prize.

The Israeli military’s version of the events is different from Mr. Wright’s.

The soldier was ordered to move aside by a Palestinian who approached the military station near Hebron, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“The Palestinian then started to curse at the soldier while recording his response. Following a verbal argument, a physical one quickly developed during which the soldier struck the Palestinian “IDF declared.

The statement, according to Mr. Wright, “misrepresents” the circumstances leading up to the incident.

“The interaction was started by the soldier. Amro only requested that he call the commander without cursing or interfering.”

He continued, “Even though I informed the other soldiers things was getting out of hand, they were scared to act before the assault.”

Parts of the incident are shown in many other videos that have been posted on social media.

Mr. Amro wrote on his Twitter page: “I didn’t touch the soldier; my hands were behind my back so I wouldn’t have to make an apology.”

Regarding the contradictions, the IDF is silent. Lt Col Richard Hecht, its spokesperson for foreign affairs, stated: “The soldier behaved inappropriately and went against the IDF code of conduct. Despite provocations, the IDF will not be afraid to uphold its ideals and ethics.”

The soldier was imprisoned in a military prison after an initial investigation, according to the IDF, and his participation in active combat operations was suspended. Additionally, his performance in his current unit would be reviewed.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right firebrand Israeli minister of national security who resides in a settlement outside of Hebron, commented on Twitter and branded the statement “a disgrace.”

“I fully back the soldier who didn’t stay silent. Soldiers need to be given support, not jail time,” he said.

As a “anarchist who routinely bothers IDF soldiers in Hebron,” he described Mr. Amro.

Hebron frequently experiences heightened tensions, making it a hotspot for violence. Due to a 1997 agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, it is the only Palestinian city in the West Bank where Jewish settlers live right in the middle of the Old City.

H1 and H2 are the two sections of Hebron. H1 is populated by 200,000 Palestinians and is entirely governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

However, H2, where several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents and more over 30,000 Palestinians live, is under the security jurisdiction of Israel. With a number of ongoing checkpoints in the region run by Israeli soldiers, inhabitants of Palestine are subject to severe movement restrictions and the PA is only in charge of civilian issues.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, is located in Hebron. Jews, Muslims, and Christians regard it as the final resting place of Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic), Isaac, and Jacob. In both Judaism and Islam, it is the second holiest location.

As a proponent of ending the occupation, Mr. Amro is well known in Hebron. He frequently provides tours of H2 to journalists and NGOs from Israel and abroad who speak English fluently.

Additionally to Israel, the PA has detained him numerous times for his purportedly critical social media statements against the government.

After Mr. Amro captured a video showing a soldier intimidating protesters and telling a left-leaning Israeli activist: “Ben Gvir is going to bring order to this place, you’ve had it,” an Israeli military court decided late last year to order him to leave his home in Hebron for a week.

Another Israeli soldier struck a protester in the face that same day after pushing him to the ground.

The two troops were given brief prison terms in military confinement, and Mr. Ben Gvir also spoke out in defense of the soldier who had made the mocking remarks.

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