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None of the soldiers, police officers, medics or civilians on scene seem to react as if anything wrong just took place. (Screenshot/B'Tselem) Published by 972Mag
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by Emily Mulder by Maan

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli army opened an investigation on Thursday after video footage was released showing an Israeli soldier shoot and kill a wounded Palestinian -- lying on the ground and posing no threat -- at point-blank range.

The footage was captured by a field worker for Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, who began filming shortly after two Palestinian, Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, were shot down after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier in Hebron’s Old City.
Al-Qasrawi was killed immediately, while al-Sharif was left lying on the ground wounded.

The graphic video footage shows al-Sharif moving his head with his arms outstretched, surrounded by armed soldiers.

One of them then walks up to al-Sharif and shoots a bullet into his head.

Israeli officers and other armed individuals in the area at the time do not appear to react to the final shot.

Amnesty International called for the incident to be prosecuted as a potential war crime, saying: “The shooting of a wounded and incapacitated person, even if they have been involved in an attack, has absolutely no justification.”

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed to Ma’an that an investigation had been opened.

“The IDF views this incident as a grave breach of IDF values, conduct, and standards of military operations. A military police investigation has commenced and the soldier involved has been detained," the army said in a statement.

Israel has come under repeated criticism for what many have termed a “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians advocated by Israeli officials since a wave of unrest began last October.

Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said that Thursday’s incident mirrored a number to take place previously.

“Israeli forces have a long history of carrying out unlawful killings -- including extrajudicial executions -- in the occupied Palestinian territories with impunity," he said.

"While it is encouraging that the soldier in the video has reportedly been suspended and placed under investigation, previous Israeli investigations have failed to hold members of the Israeli forces accountable even when there has been clear evidence of criminal wrongdoing."

He encouraged the Israeli authorities to “use this opportunity to end the culture of impunity that has made such killings increasingly commonplace.”

B’Tselem -- which has recently come under attack by Israel’s right -- has accused Israeli soldiers and police officers of becoming “judge, jury and executioner” during the past few months of violence, blaming official encouragement and effective impunity.

The UN's human rights monitor in the occupied Palestinian territory, Makarim Wibisono, has also slammed what he termed Israel’s “extrajudicial executions,” most recently during an address to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

Wibisono also said that while wanton acts of individual violence -- committed by both Palestinians and Israelis -- were unacceptable, the recent surge in violence was "arising in a pre-existing context."

"Tensions have risen against a backdrop of illegal settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza, and a general lack of accountability," he said.

Palestinians have in the past voiced strong distrust of Israeli probes into violations carried out in the occupied area, and Amnesty International last summer said Israel’s system of military investigation failed to meet the standard criteria for effective investigations.
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By Mairav Zonszein for 972Mag

Maybe even worse than the murder itself is the fact that no one in the vicinity seems at all moved by it.

WARNING: This post contains a highly graphic video and images.

An IDF soldier was filmed shooting a Palestinian in the head at close range in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of occupied Hebron Thursday, after he and another Palestinian reportedly stabbed a different soldier, lightly wounding him.

Most Israeli media outlets initially went with the usual headline, “Soldier stabbed, assailants killed.” A few hours later, however, video of the incident was released showing that the Palestinian man was already shot and lying on the ground wounded, presenting absolutely no threat to anyone at the time he was shot in the head, murdered.

The video was captured by local Palestinian resident Emad abu-Shamsiyah and distributed by B’Tselem.

Minutes earlier, before the start of the video, the two young Palestinian men, Abed al Fatah a-Sharif and Ramzi al-Qasrawi, reportedly stabbed a soldier in the Hebron neighborhood. They were shot in the aftermath of the stabbing.

In the video, which begins only after the stabbing already took place, an Israeli soldier can be seen shooting the injured Sharif in the head as he lies on the ground. The soldier is facing the camera with Sharif in between.

In a separate video we have deemed too graphic to upload, a prominent settler from Hebron can be heard telling soldiers, “this dog is still alive.”

No one in the vicinity seems bothered or surprised at all by the shooting — neither the soldiers nor a couple of police officers present nor the medical teams seen treating the wounded soldier. They completely ignore the two wounded Palestinians (al-Qasrawi is lying several feet behind a-Sharif, and can be seen at the end of the video). This total apathy reflects not only the regularity of such incidents of stabbings and responsive shootings, but also the culture of impunity in which IDF soldiers feel free to shoot and kill Palestinians against the IDF’s own rules of engagement.

The Israeli military immediately sought to distance itself from the murder. Israeli security forces have been accused by Palestinians and others of unnecessarily killing Palestinian stabbing suspects since the latest wave of violence began. Israel has consistently denied the practice, although senior ministers have in recent years given what many interpreted as a green light to killing suspected terrorists.

In October 2015, video footage show Fadi Alloun, a young Palestinian man from East Jerusalem, being shot and killed by police officers despite not appearing to pose an immediate threat. In November, two Palestinian girls were shot after stabbing an elderly man with scissors. In response to that incident, IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizencot said he doesn’t want Israeli soldiers to “empty a [rifle] magazine into a girl with scissors.”

The IDF Spokesperson issued the following statement: ”An initial investigation shows that this is a severe incident that contradicts the IDF’s ethical code and what is expected from the IDF’s soldiers and commanders. A military police investigation has been opened following the findings of the initial investigation that was carried out by the commanders. The soldier has been suspended from his position until the culmination of the investigation.”

Update: Military police arrested the soldier, and high ranking officers ordered that all other soldiers who were in the vicinity at the time of the shooting should also be investigated.
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Barak Ravid and Gili Cohen for Haaretz

Israeli politicians from across the aisle condemned on Thursday an Israeli soldier who shot a subdued Palestinian attacker in the head in Hebron.

In a video provided by a B'Tselem fieldworker the same day, the wounded Palestinian, who had earlier carried out a stabbing attack, is seen lying on the ground when the soldier shoots him in the head.

"What happened in Hebron does not represent the values of the Israel Defense Forces," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in reaction to the incident, adding that the IDF "expects its soldiers to act coolly and in accordance with the rules of engagement."

“Even when our blood is boiling, we must not allow such a loss of sense, such a loss of control,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) said in a press statement, adding that "terror must be fought uncompromisingly, he stressed, “but even so, woe to us if we act contrary to our moral values and our conscience.”

Ya'alon continued that Israel has a “moral obligation” to “preserve its humanity,” “remember the limits of power” and “keep ourselves from immoral behavior.”

MK Ofer Shelah of Yesh Atid said, “The terrorists’ murderous despicableness isn’t a reason for the IDF to discard its values. We should laud the army’s swift action in opening an investigation and making clear that this act contradicts its values ... Morality is the source of the army’s strength, and abandoning even a little of it due to the difficulties caused by terror would undermine national security.”

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Galon said the incident “should greatly concern the heads of the defense establishment and the government.” The soldier must stand trial, she said, “but in addition, it’s impossible to close our eyes to the public atmosphere created by elected officials in the coalition and the government, deliberately and irresponsibly, which is penetrating every segment of our society and corrupting it.” The government’s “unbridled incitement ... also reaches soldiers in the field and sends them an immoral and dangerous message,” she added.

Joint Arab List chairman Ayman Odeh said, “In recent months, Israel has become a place where public executions are carried out to the public applause ... Its ministers have repeatedly urged the public to execute every suspicious person. The price of the security and moral deterioration is being paid by both peoples, Israeli and Palestinian.”
Both he and Joint Arab List MK Ahmad Tibi demanded that inciting politicians, including Netanyahu, stand trial along with the soldier.

Earlier, IDF Spokesperson Moti Almoz told reporters that the soldier had been arrested and was being investigated by the Military Police. He added that Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot spoke personally with the head of Central Command about the incident and ordered a thorough investigation, “in order to understand what happened that a solder decided to open fire at a terrorist when he was lying down.”
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Update: June 1, 2016

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- New video footage has surfaced of an Israeli ambulance driver kicking a knife near to the body of Abdul Fattah al-Sharif, a young Palestinian whose execution-style murder by an Israeli soldier in March was caught on video, sparking international outrage.
The video footage, obtained by Israel's Channel Two, is expected to be shown to an Israeli military court to disprove claims by the Israeli soldier who killed al-Sharif that he shot the young Palestinian point-blank in the head after al-Sharif moved to grab a knife, according to the Israeli media outlet Ynet.

The footage shows that the knife allegedly used in the attack was far from al-Sharif when he was shot, including showing an ambulance driving over the knife before it was kicked closer to al-Sharif’s body.
The Israeli military prosecutor reportedly said that an Israeli ambulance driver, Ofer Ohanna, who was near the scene kicked the knife towards al-Sharif’s body following his murder, according to the Maarev news agency, a Hebrew language news outlet.

Maarev reported that Ohanna refused to speak to the media, and said he gave the military prosecution all the information he had on the incident during interrogations.