Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed support on Tuesday for an IDF soldier who was filmed striking a well-known Palestinian provocateur in Hebron the previous day.
“Shame and disgrace! The anarchist Issa Amro, who frequently harasses IDF soldiers in Hebron to prevent them from working, is doing it again, only this time it was with a film crew from an American media outlet. I support the soldier who didn’t keep quiet with full force. Soldiers need backing, not jail.”
The soldier was filmed tackling Amro to the ground and then kicking him. Amro was accompanied by The New Yorker journalist Lawrence Wright.
The Kan public broadcaster reported, citing an initial IDF probe, that the soldier had told Amro he could not pass through the area, and that he had to wait for an officer to deal with the matter. Amro reportedly began yelling expletives at the soldier and struck him, prompting a response.
“The incident was thoroughly investigated by officers, and it was found that the soldier hit the Palestinian. The soldier was sentenced to 10 days’ detention, at the end of which a decision will be made on his future military service. The IDF views with gravity all violent behavior and condemns it,” said the military in a statement.
JNS previously reported on far-left organizations harassing Israel Defense Forces soldiers in a campaign designed to elicit responses that can be used on social media.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian terrorist last week was neutralized by Israeli forces after attempting to stab a soldier near the town of al Fawar, close to Hebron. The thwarted attack came amid an ongoing wave of Palestinian terrorism, including the killing late last month of seven people at a synagogue in Jerusalem.
On Monday evening, twenty-two-year-old Israeli soldier Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed died from wounds sustained earlier in the day in a terrorist attack at a checkpoint to Shuafat in eastern Jerusalem.
That followed Friday’s car-ramming attack in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, which killed six-year-old Yaakov Israel Paley and 20-year-old Alter Shlomo Lederman. Eight-year-old Asher Menachem Paley, Yaakov’s brother, died over Shabbat from wounds sustained in the attack.
In January, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian gunman who had opened fire on them near the town of Halhul, just north of Hebron. The shooter was identified as Hamdi Abu Dia, 40, a member of the Palestinian Authority security services.