PH Quickie: what total impunity looks like

Wednesday, September 1, 2020 Israeli soldiers attack 60-year-old protester holding a flag and a cane.

by Kathryn Shihadah

A 3-minute video is making its way around social media. A group of Palestinians are nonviolently protesting against the planned theft of part of their land. Israel wants to build an industrial complex, but not on Israeli land – on Palestinian land. Of course there will be protests.

The man in this video is in his 60s,, carrying a flag. The Israeli soldiers who tackle and beat him to the ground are clearly surrounded by photographers and videographers. But the beating goes on. One soldier, apparently unconcerned that the world will see his actions, kneels on the man’s head as he is handcuffed.

This can only occur in an environment of total impunity.

The Israeli military quickly issued a statement, explaining it all away:

During the riot, the IDF force used riot dispersal methods. At one point, a Palestinian, who is known as a central agitator and participates in many riots in the Judea and Samaria area, shoved the force's commander a number of times and tried to create a provocation. The commander showed restraint, but after a number of attacks on him, the force was required to arrest the suspect…The suspect also resisted his arrest, and the force was forced to handcuff him. After his arrest, the suspect was given medical treatment at the scene.

In an era when police actions are regularly filmed and closely scrutinized, these soldiers knew they would not be held accountable.

Not only will they not be held accountable, they will most likely be praised for their “courage” (unlike these soldiers, who are considered cowards because they did not escalate a situation against a teenager with a stone).

This is the Israel Defense Force: the “most moral army in the world.”