Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that an Israeli Military Court Judge ordered the release of a Palestinian man who was kidnapped and detained by the Israeli army three weeks ago, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and ruled that the soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes, used unreasonable force.The incident in question took place on August 14, and was caught on tape by a foreign national, and the video was published by several Israeli media outlets. It showed the soldiers violently dragging a young Palestinian man into a stairwell near an Israeli military roadblock.
The Judge, Maj. Daniel Kfir, said that the video clearly shows that the Palestinian man did not do anything wrong, and was attacked by a soldier wearing civilian clothes.
The Palestinian young man, identified as Abdul-Aziz Al-Fakhoury, was kidnapped by soldiers in civilian clothes and not in military outfits. They also did not identify themselves as soldiers.
The judge stated that the soldiers in this case used unreasonable force against the Palestinian, and that they even did not know if they have the authority to arrest the man after distancing him from the area.
Haaretz said that the incident took place near the Tal Romedia neighborhood in Hebron, and that soldiers of Battalion 931 of the Nahal Brigade of the Israeli military dragged the Palestinian into a stairwell leading to a confrontation between the man and one of the undercover soldiers. It also said that the Israeli soldier, appeared to be a man jogging in the area, ordered the Palestinian man to come with him, and the man refused.
Shortly after that, several Israeli undercover Israeli soldiers, all wearing jogging outfits, appeared in the area and the Palestinian man tried to defend himself and told one of them “Do Not Touch Me”, the man was then assaulted and dragged by the soldiers.
One of the soldiers was shouting at the person who was filming the assault and ordering him to “go back”, and prevented him from getting closer.
Also, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights In the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, obtained another video that was shown at the court on Wednesday showing scenes that were not on the first video, proving that the Palestinian man did not confront the soldiers, and was all talking to his brother.
The video that was obtained by B’Tselem shows several minutes of incidents that took place before the man was kidnapped, and only shows verbal exchange that contradicts the claims of the Israeli army.
The footage was filmed by a bystander using a personal cellphone, and proves that Abdul-Aziz did not confront the soldiers and was only talking to his brother, saying “They took him inside? He ate shit!” and that is when the soldiers accused the Palestinian of cursing them, and violently attacked and kidnapped him.
He was not talking about the soldiers, as he was speaking about a totally different subject, in Arabic, with his brother. And even when the soldiers attacked him, he did not use violence, and just tried to explain to them they he was talking to his brother.
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