JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military on Monday sentenced a soldier who was filmed assaulting a Palestinian near an army post in the occupied West Bank to 10 days in prison and suspended him from combat duty.
At the start of the video, which was carried by Israeli news websites, the soldier is grabbing a Palestinian man by his jacket and neck and throws him to the ground. He then lands a kick to the man’s backside before being pulled away by another soldier.
It does not show the events leading up to the incident, which took place in the city of Hebron.
The Haaretz news website identified the assaulted man as a Palestinian activist.
Israel’s military said the event began when the soldier, guarding a military post, asked the Palestinian who approached the post to step away.
“In response, the Palestinian began recording and cursing the soldier. A verbal confrontation followed, which soon became a physical confrontation, during which the soldier hit the Palestinian,” it said.
“As the video shows, the soldier did not act as expected and did not follow the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) code of conduct,” it said.
The soldier, it said, was sentenced to 10 days in military prison and will be suspended from active combat duty.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Sandra Maler)
