How many Jewish soldiers are helping settler madness?
.sergio.
Giovedì 12 Novembre 2009 04:42 Antony Loewenstein
11 November 2009
The IDF are “concerned” that soldiers are participating in settler
“revenge attacks” (but are doing virtually nothing about it):
Mickey Haimovich [anchor]: The IDF is concerned by a phenomenon where
soldiers who reside on West Bank settlements join acts of revenge and
riots against Palestinians. Two soldiers were apprehended after they
were spotted by IDF cameras. Our military affairs correspondent Nir
Dvori has the story.
Nir Dvori [military affairs correspondent]: These pictures give the
IDF a serious headache. They show soldiers who join rioting settlers
and using their IDF-issue weapons. Soldiers manning an observation
post of the Etzioni Brigade, which is the Bethlehem brigade, were
amazed when their security cameras spotted two of their comrades out
there. Corporal Baruch Brandoi of the anti-terror school and Sergeant
Nahman Alfasi of the Artillery Corps, both residents of the settlement
of Bat Ayin, took their M-16’s and joined their friends on a revenge
campaign against the nearby Palestinian village of Hirbat Zafa. The
incident took place shortly after the lethal ax attack in Bat Ayin.
The settlers wanted revenge. A group of settlers started throwing
rocks at the Palestinian village. The Palestinians responded in kind,
but then came the two armed soldiers. Brandoi fired 26 rounds and kept
firing even after the Palestinians have fled. Alfasi fired 12 rounds.
Attorney Adi Keidar [lawyer for convicted soldiers]: I hope that the
dramatic amendment of the charge sheet would lead to a new
understanding by the prosecution and the army that reality on the
ground there is tough. There are civilians there, local residents,
including soldiers on leave who, when the time comes, must react to
certain incidents. We would be pleased if the army understood that.
Dvori: Presenting the pictures before the court, the military
prosecution argued that the two soldiers were under no life threat and
thus had no reason to open fire, but was forced to make a plea bargain
deal with them, and each of the shooters was handed down a sentence of
21 days in the military prison.
Attorney Hay Haber [lawyer for convicted soldiers]: By making the plea
bargain deal, the prosecution spared itself the need to discuss the
question of what precisely is the role of a soldier on leave. Is he
supposed to protect people around him and risk facing criminal
charges, or do nothing and stay away?
Dvori: Recently, the army has been dealing with an increasing number
of incidents where soldiers joined riots against Palestinians in the
West Bank, as in the incident we can see here, which followed the
evacuation of a Hebron house. It is doubtful that the light punishment
handed down to the two shooters from Bat Ayin would help deterring the
next shooter.
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2009/11/11/how-many-jewish-soldiers-are-helping-settler-madness/