Protesters scuffle with Israeli soldiers. Photo credit: YouTube
A video of an Israeli soldier butting a Danish pro-Palestinain protester in the face with his M-16 gun in a seemingly unprovoked attack during a bicycle rally near Jericho in the West Bank, has spread like wildfire on the internet. The soldier, Lieutenant-Colonel Shalom Eisner, has been suspended after the footage, originally posted on YouTube, was shown on Israeli television on Sunday. The Guardian and The Daily Mail carried the shocking video on their websites.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the officer’s actions. He said: “This behavior is not characteristic of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers and commanders and it has no place in the IDF or in the state of Israel.” Israeli military spokesman Yoav Mordechai was a little less apologetic for the incident. He said that although the officer’s behavior was unacceptable, the edited video “did not reflect the whole story,” and added, “these are harsh pictures, but I still can’t divorce the filmed episodes from the incident that lasted over an hour. It included violence by the anarchists and Palestinians, (though) this does not justify what we see.”
The violent incident has shocked many but some commenters at The Daily Mail applauded the officer’s action. “Tree Huggers need this type of treatment. That officer defused a situation that could have gotten out of hand very quickly with 1 sweeping blow. UK police forces need to adopt this approach,” insisted Phil from Belfast. Another commenter – Dave – concurred: “If there’s anymore riots ANYWHERE in the UK i want these guys there! They know how to handle themselves, not this Hug a hoodie police force we have … “
