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Screen shot: B’tselem Israeli Soldiers detain developmentally-disabled Palestinian child in Hebron, 19 Oct. 2014

Screen shot: B’Tselem Israeli Soldiers detain developmentally-disabled Palestinian child in Hebron, 19 Oct. 2014
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by Annie Robbins for Mondoweiss

Watch as settlers from the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, clap, shout and cheer as an Israeli soldier binds the hands of a child behind his back and fastens a blindfold over his eyes as another soldier stands on guard before they lift the frightened boy into the back of their military jeep enclosing him in darkness as the settlers’ cheering continues. The boy is eleven and developmentally disabled.

The scene, captured on video by a B’Tselem volunteer, is another all too familiar scene of life under occupation.

B’Tselem Press Release:

Yesterday, soldiers briefly detained a developmentally disabled Palestinian boy, who is under the age of criminal responsibility, on suspicion that he had thrown stones. The boy, A. a-Rajbi, (full name withheld in interest of privacy) who will be 12 in a month, was detained after Palestinian children threw stones at soldiers on the main road of the Jabel Johar neighborhood in Hebron, close to the settlement of Kiryat Arba. A-Rajbi was handcuffed, blindfolded, and held on the floor of an army jeep for some 15 minutes until his father arrived and convinced the soldiers to release his son, who is mentally disabled and cannot speak.

In the video footage, filmed by B’Tselem volunteer Samih Da’na from his window, soldiers are seen holding the boy, handcuffing him, blindfolding him and closing him in the jeep, despite cries by Palestinian residents that the boy is mentally disabled. The footage also shows settlers from Kiryat Arba, watching the incident from behind the settlement’s fence. Some are seen calling out encouragement to the soldiers, including several racist remarks.

It really bothers me how high the soldier twists the boy’s arm up his back.

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