Sgt. jailed 10 days for stun grenade attack
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Thursday it has disciplined three soldiers after a video emerged that seemed to show them hurling a stun grenade at Palestinian men smoking a water pipe in the northern West Bank.
In the video, captured by a surveillance camera, an Israeli military jeep pulls up to the four Palestinians, stops briefly, then drives away as a stun grenade explodes in the frame, sending the Palestinians fleeing. The military said a platoon sergeant was sent to jail for 10 days and two other soldiers were also disciplined for acting “contrary to military standards.”
Since mid-September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and two visiting Americans in stabbing and shooting attacks, as well as attacks in which cars were used to ram into Israeli troops and civilians. At least 206 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire in that period, most said by Israel to be attackers. The attacks have tapered off in recent weeks.
Palestinians have accused Israelis of using excessive force against assailants who have already been wounded or stopped, and quickly circulate videos which they say back up their claims.
In the most high-profile case, Sgt. Elor Azaria is facing charges of manslaughter after he was filmed fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron in March.
Earlier this month, another video appeared to show border police officers seizing a bicycle from an 8-year-old Palestinian girl in Hebron. The video then cuts to an officer walking away from bushes, where the bike lies in the dirt. A Palestinian volunteer with the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem filmed the incident.
B’Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said that without the video, there was little chance the bicycle incident would have been investigated.
“No one would have known about it,” she said. The military said soldiers are expected to report instances where troops fail to act in accordance with the army’s “strict code of laws and values,” regardless of whether the incident was caught on video.
The Israeli watchdog group Yesh Din said that between 2010 and 2013, only 1.4 per cent of Palestinian complaints led to indictments against soldiers.