8 nov 2019
A video has surfaced online showing two Israeli soldiers shoving and cocking a gun in the face of a Palestinian father in the presence of his young son, causing outrage among Palestinian social media users.
The scuffle — which took place in the southern West Bank city of (Hebron) on Tuesday — starts with an Israeli soldier shouting at the man, saying that the child has been throwing rocks at the regime’s forces.
“Throwing rocks?! He’s five years old,” exclaimed the father.
“Yes, throwing rocks, all your friends are throwing rocks. I don’t care [how old he is],” the Israeli soldier replied.
Another Israeli soldier then joined in and both started shoving the Palestinian man. The man responded by saying “don’t raise your hands on me.”
One of the Israeli soldiers cocked and aimed his gun at the father’s face as he tried to move on with his child.
The incident, nonetheless, gained widespread attention, prompting Israeli authorities to claim that they were probing the incident.
This is not the first time that Israeli soldiers have been caught on camera assaulting Palestinians.
Just last week, footage emerged showing an Israeli police officer firing at an unarmed young Palestinian man as he was leaving the scene with his arms raised.
Israeli police claimed the incident had taken place roughly a year and a half ago and the officer had been arrested on suspicion of shooting the Palestinian man with a sponge-tipped bullet “as a dubious form of entertainment.”
Crimes perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians are rarely acknowledged by their authorities. Limited cases against Israeli forces are addressed in courts and are also known to result in very mild prison sentences.
In a notable case in 2017, the United Nations slammed a “lenient” 18-month prison sentence handed to Israeli Sergeant Elor Azaria who had killed a wounded Palestinian. The UN described the murder as an apparent “extrajudicial execution.”
Several human rights organizations have highlighted that the Israeli military purposely targets Palestinians with unnecessary lethal force, with one report saying that senior Israeli officials have encouraged forces “to unlawfully shoot to kill.”
The scuffle — which took place in the southern West Bank city of (Hebron) on Tuesday — starts with an Israeli soldier shouting at the man, saying that the child has been throwing rocks at the regime’s forces.
“Throwing rocks?! He’s five years old,” exclaimed the father.
“Yes, throwing rocks, all your friends are throwing rocks. I don’t care [how old he is],” the Israeli soldier replied.
Another Israeli soldier then joined in and both started shoving the Palestinian man. The man responded by saying “don’t raise your hands on me.”
One of the Israeli soldiers cocked and aimed his gun at the father’s face as he tried to move on with his child.
The incident, nonetheless, gained widespread attention, prompting Israeli authorities to claim that they were probing the incident.
This is not the first time that Israeli soldiers have been caught on camera assaulting Palestinians.
Just last week, footage emerged showing an Israeli police officer firing at an unarmed young Palestinian man as he was leaving the scene with his arms raised.
Israeli police claimed the incident had taken place roughly a year and a half ago and the officer had been arrested on suspicion of shooting the Palestinian man with a sponge-tipped bullet “as a dubious form of entertainment.”
Crimes perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians are rarely acknowledged by their authorities. Limited cases against Israeli forces are addressed in courts and are also known to result in very mild prison sentences.
In a notable case in 2017, the United Nations slammed a “lenient” 18-month prison sentence handed to Israeli Sergeant Elor Azaria who had killed a wounded Palestinian. The UN described the murder as an apparent “extrajudicial execution.”
Several human rights organizations have highlighted that the Israeli military purposely targets Palestinians with unnecessary lethal force, with one report saying that senior Israeli officials have encouraged forces “to unlawfully shoot to kill.”
6 nov 2019
The suspects aged 17 to 30 are accused of distributing images in Telegram groups with thousands of members; one woman discovered video of her half-naked in clothing store changing room was shared online - 'I feel like a joke,' she says
Israel Police officers across the country on Wednesday raided the homes of 12 youths and young men suspected of distributing nude photos and videos of hundreds of women on secure groups in the Telegram massaging app.
Investigators tracked down the distributors of the content during a covert police investigation over the past few weeks.
The suspects, aged 17 to 30, appeared before Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for a remand hearing Wednesday.
For the victims, the discovery that they had been preyed upon caused shock and anger.
Yana Gross a 23-year-old resident of Rishon Lezion, discovered that she had been filmed without clothes in a changing room of a store and that the footage was distributed among the thousands of members of a Telegram group.
"It angers me deeply and I feel like a joke," Gross told Ynet.
"People I know started sending me screenshots in which I can be seen shirtless while changing," she said
"They probably hacked the cameras at the store and downloaded the videos without the girls' knowledge. The owner of the store and I filed a complaint with the police."
Gross said it is important to send the message that women need to complain in order to stop this kind of violation from happening again.
"We cannot remain silent while being hurt like this," she said.
Nofar Kaminsky, 21, started getting phone calls from anonymous men about six months ago, and she realized that her phone number had been distributed in various groups.
"Men started calling me and sending me messages and I knew something was going on," she said.
"After looking into it – I realized that someone had written a message in one of the groups reading 'huge-breasted Instagram slut' and next to it my phone number," she said. "It led to many weird conversations from men.
"The worst part was that my then-boyfriend blamed me for publishing screenshots of guys who texted me, but I did it only to raise awareness for other girls," she said.
"He said they put my number there to get back at me. It's a comfort to know that the police have arrested them."
Twenty-year-old Anna also had her phone number published on various Telegram groups.
"It all started when I suddenly started receiving phone calls and messages on social media from guys I didn't know. At first, I had no idea what it had to do with me, but then a girl wrote to me on Instagram that there were naked photos of a woman with a link to my Instagram being shared across groups along with my phone number."
A spokesperson for Israel Police said: "The photos were shared in private groups with thousands of users. The police have begun a covert and through investigation, and will continue to try to protect the victims, adults and minors, online and elsewhere."
Israel Police officers across the country on Wednesday raided the homes of 12 youths and young men suspected of distributing nude photos and videos of hundreds of women on secure groups in the Telegram massaging app.
Investigators tracked down the distributors of the content during a covert police investigation over the past few weeks.
The suspects, aged 17 to 30, appeared before Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for a remand hearing Wednesday.
For the victims, the discovery that they had been preyed upon caused shock and anger.
Yana Gross a 23-year-old resident of Rishon Lezion, discovered that she had been filmed without clothes in a changing room of a store and that the footage was distributed among the thousands of members of a Telegram group.
"It angers me deeply and I feel like a joke," Gross told Ynet.
"People I know started sending me screenshots in which I can be seen shirtless while changing," she said
"They probably hacked the cameras at the store and downloaded the videos without the girls' knowledge. The owner of the store and I filed a complaint with the police."
Gross said it is important to send the message that women need to complain in order to stop this kind of violation from happening again.
"We cannot remain silent while being hurt like this," she said.
Nofar Kaminsky, 21, started getting phone calls from anonymous men about six months ago, and she realized that her phone number had been distributed in various groups.
"Men started calling me and sending me messages and I knew something was going on," she said.
"After looking into it – I realized that someone had written a message in one of the groups reading 'huge-breasted Instagram slut' and next to it my phone number," she said. "It led to many weird conversations from men.
"The worst part was that my then-boyfriend blamed me for publishing screenshots of guys who texted me, but I did it only to raise awareness for other girls," she said.
"He said they put my number there to get back at me. It's a comfort to know that the police have arrested them."
Twenty-year-old Anna also had her phone number published on various Telegram groups.
"It all started when I suddenly started receiving phone calls and messages on social media from guys I didn't know. At first, I had no idea what it had to do with me, but then a girl wrote to me on Instagram that there were naked photos of a woman with a link to my Instagram being shared across groups along with my phone number."
A spokesperson for Israel Police said: "The photos were shared in private groups with thousands of users. The police have begun a covert and through investigation, and will continue to try to protect the victims, adults and minors, online and elsewhere."
4 nov 2019
Mayor, former mayor, ex-ministerial aide among those questioned; 10 others arrested in investigation into alleged graft by senior government employees accused of colluding to hand government contracts to certain external parties
The Lahav 433 Special Investigations Unit arrested 10 people on Monday, including a senior official in a state-run company, on suspicion of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
Nine other people were held for questioning, including a mayor, a former mayor, a local municipal leader, a former ministerial aide and a well-known contractor.
As part of the investigation, police on Monday confiscated documents from the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Jerusalem. According to suspicions, external contractors and entrepreneurs were allegedly awarded preferential treatment for infrastructure work and other projects in return for bribes.
Police said that a lengthy coverty investigation was on Monday morning revealed. According to suspicions, senior government and local authority staffers allegedly colluded with others in several instances of corruption.
According to the police, evidence shows the suspects allegedly worked to promote their own interests by influencing decision-makers in various state-owned enterprises.
Evidence also allegedly shows that senior officials in local municipalities and even government ministries were involved in the alleged endorsement of certain interested parties, in exchange for bribes and other improper incentives.
The legal team for the former ministerial aide responded to the charges, saying: "Our client completely denies the suspicions against him, and we will raise all relevant arguments before the judge who will hear the case."
The Lahav 433 Special Investigations Unit arrested 10 people on Monday, including a senior official in a state-run company, on suspicion of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
Nine other people were held for questioning, including a mayor, a former mayor, a local municipal leader, a former ministerial aide and a well-known contractor.
As part of the investigation, police on Monday confiscated documents from the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Jerusalem. According to suspicions, external contractors and entrepreneurs were allegedly awarded preferential treatment for infrastructure work and other projects in return for bribes.
Police said that a lengthy coverty investigation was on Monday morning revealed. According to suspicions, senior government and local authority staffers allegedly colluded with others in several instances of corruption.
According to the police, evidence shows the suspects allegedly worked to promote their own interests by influencing decision-makers in various state-owned enterprises.
Evidence also allegedly shows that senior officials in local municipalities and even government ministries were involved in the alleged endorsement of certain interested parties, in exchange for bribes and other improper incentives.
The legal team for the former ministerial aide responded to the charges, saying: "Our client completely denies the suspicions against him, and we will raise all relevant arguments before the judge who will hear the case."
FILE PHOTO: Members of Israel's Border Police near Qalandiya checkpoint, West Bank, March, 2018
Israel’s justice ministry may file charges against a former policewoman who allegedly shot a Palestinian in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet “for fun” after a video of the incident emerged over the weekend.
In the new clip, broadcast by Israel’s Channel 13 news agency, Israeli border police officers at a checkpoint are seen shouting at the young man to “get out of here!” in Arabic.
After the Palestinians turns around and walks away with his hands above his head, the police continue to shout contradicting instructions at him before one of them shoots him in the back.
The unknown man is seen screaming in agony as he slumps to the floor. The security forces are not visible when the shot is fired but filmed walking away afterwards.
The Channel 13 report quoted the police as saying the man was not seriously hurt.
However, the shocking footage has drawn fresh attention to the incident, one of several hard-to-prove Palestinian claims that that Israeli security forces use excessive or unnecessary force against them.
In a Sunday statement, the justice ministry said it would soon announce whether to charge a former policewoman.
The ministry added that it had completed a criminal investigation after holding four hearings into last year’s incident. It did not say when it will reveal its decision.
Israeli police said they removed the female policewoman from the force after learning of the incident, while other police involved in the incident were re-assigned.
However, the policewoman’s lawyer denied she fired the bullet in a statement to Channel 13.
The news report also showed what it said were text messages between a different police officer suspected in the case bragging about shooting the Palestinian to his girlfriend.
Israeli media said the incident took place last May at al-Zaim checkpoint outside of Jerusalem.
At a bail hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court last October, Judge Elad Persky said the suspect apparently shot the Palestinian “as a dubious form of entertainment”, Haaretz reported at the time.
Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, said a culture of impunity was behind incidents like these.
“This exceptional documentation shows what, sadly, is an unexceptional event: Israeli security forces hurting a Palestinian for absolutely no reason,” said B’Tselem spokesman Amit Gilutz.
“Such instances are the direct result of the culture of impunity fostered by Israel, which is crucial to the perpetuation of its military control over the Palestinians.”
Leaked footage shows Israeli forces aimlessly shooting Palestinian civilian
A video footage that has gone viral online showed an Israeli Border Police officer shooting a Palestinian man who had his back turned toward the officer, his hands up and was walking away.
In the short video, released by Israeli Channel 13, officers can be heard yelling, “Run already” at the man, before one of the officers shoots him.
The man, who was shot by a rubber-coated bullet, was wounded in the back but according to the Israeli military, he rose immediately afterwards and continued on his way.
Israeli daily Haaretz said evidence about the incident includes text messages in which members of the unit boasted about the incident and the main suspect's admission via text messages.
It claimed that the officer who fired the rubber-coated rounds was discharged from the Border Police and returned to the army to complete her mandatory service.
This was not the first incident in which Israeli occupation forces open fire at Palestinian civilians despite posing no threat to the soldiers’ lives.
Israel’s justice ministry may file charges against a former policewoman who allegedly shot a Palestinian in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet “for fun” after a video of the incident emerged over the weekend.
In the new clip, broadcast by Israel’s Channel 13 news agency, Israeli border police officers at a checkpoint are seen shouting at the young man to “get out of here!” in Arabic.
After the Palestinians turns around and walks away with his hands above his head, the police continue to shout contradicting instructions at him before one of them shoots him in the back.
The unknown man is seen screaming in agony as he slumps to the floor. The security forces are not visible when the shot is fired but filmed walking away afterwards.
The Channel 13 report quoted the police as saying the man was not seriously hurt.
However, the shocking footage has drawn fresh attention to the incident, one of several hard-to-prove Palestinian claims that that Israeli security forces use excessive or unnecessary force against them.
In a Sunday statement, the justice ministry said it would soon announce whether to charge a former policewoman.
The ministry added that it had completed a criminal investigation after holding four hearings into last year’s incident. It did not say when it will reveal its decision.
Israeli police said they removed the female policewoman from the force after learning of the incident, while other police involved in the incident were re-assigned.
However, the policewoman’s lawyer denied she fired the bullet in a statement to Channel 13.
The news report also showed what it said were text messages between a different police officer suspected in the case bragging about shooting the Palestinian to his girlfriend.
Israeli media said the incident took place last May at al-Zaim checkpoint outside of Jerusalem.
At a bail hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court last October, Judge Elad Persky said the suspect apparently shot the Palestinian “as a dubious form of entertainment”, Haaretz reported at the time.
Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, said a culture of impunity was behind incidents like these.
“This exceptional documentation shows what, sadly, is an unexceptional event: Israeli security forces hurting a Palestinian for absolutely no reason,” said B’Tselem spokesman Amit Gilutz.
“Such instances are the direct result of the culture of impunity fostered by Israel, which is crucial to the perpetuation of its military control over the Palestinians.”
Leaked footage shows Israeli forces aimlessly shooting Palestinian civilian
A video footage that has gone viral online showed an Israeli Border Police officer shooting a Palestinian man who had his back turned toward the officer, his hands up and was walking away.
In the short video, released by Israeli Channel 13, officers can be heard yelling, “Run already” at the man, before one of the officers shoots him.
The man, who was shot by a rubber-coated bullet, was wounded in the back but according to the Israeli military, he rose immediately afterwards and continued on his way.
Israeli daily Haaretz said evidence about the incident includes text messages in which members of the unit boasted about the incident and the main suspect's admission via text messages.
It claimed that the officer who fired the rubber-coated rounds was discharged from the Border Police and returned to the army to complete her mandatory service.
This was not the first incident in which Israeli occupation forces open fire at Palestinian civilians despite posing no threat to the soldiers’ lives.
