Campaign launched for border cop who shot Palestinian

Border Police chief Amos Yaakov on Friday warned all members of the force that it is a “grave disciplinary offense” to post personal or political opinions on social media, and that they face dismissal for breaching this ruling.

The warning came after a controversial social media campaign was launched expressing support for a border policeman accused of shooting dead a Palestinian teen six months ago during a protest near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

“We are witnessing a number of incidents where policemen are giving interviews to the media or expressing their opinions on social media. These breaches, besides the fact that they are grave disciplinary offenses, harm the image of thousands of policemen and women in the corps,” Yaakov said.

The Facebook page “We are all with the border policeman” was created after the border policeman was arrested on Tuesday, and has garnered 19,000 “likes” in three days of being online.

The campaign’s Facebook page, which is adorned with countless posts by users expressing their support for the accused border policeman, include a large number of identifiable, uniformed soldiers and Border policemen.

IDF guidelines prohibit uniformed soldiers from being involved in protest movements and have extended their code of conduct to include all social media platforms.

The Facebook posts were also rife with heavy handed criticisms leveled at the government, as Facebook users accused the authorities of forcing soldiers to use excessive amounts of restraint in precarious situations.

“The Israeli government, stop shackling the hands of soldiers!,” a user wrote.

Others were critical of the government for bring “soft” when dealing with the Palestinians and used the venue to direct personal attacks against the prime pinister: “May [Netanyahu’s] son spend an hour in jail with the [border policeman] so he can explain to his father what an idiot he is.”

The border policeman’s commander was also arrested on suspicion that he knew his subordinate had fired live ammunition but did not report it. The commander was released on house arrest until Sunday.

Although details of the police investigation into the shooting remain under gag order, reports indicated that the border policeman had used a live round instead of non-lethal rubber ammunition to disperse a crowd during Nakba Day protests in Ramallah in May.

The teenager, Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, was one of two Palestinians killed on May 15. The IDF, which maintained only nonlethal dispersal methods were used by troops against the demonstration, declined to comment on the findings at the time. Some reports say the border policeman is suspected of both killingd.

Palestinian and Israeli specialists, as well as two pathologists from the US and Denmark, were in attendance during the autopsy, which took place at the Abu Dis Institute of Forensic Medicine in the West Bank.

An entry and exit wound were detected on the body, and shrapnel was also found, the Ma’an Palestinian news agency reported.

A video released following the incident seemed to show the two teens shot while walking in an area away from the demonstration.

The incident was made the subject of an IDF investigation after the footage emerged apparently showing the teens being shot without provocation.

Israeli military officials said they had been investigating the incident since May 16, and had also opened a military police investigation. Preliminary findings had indicated no live fire had been used by IDF troops who were present during the incident, they said.

Palestinian witnesses at the scene insisted the two had been killed by live ammunition.

The current social media campaign is similar to an April campaign defending a soldier who was reprimanded for cocking his weapon after being approached by vocal group of Palestinian youth at a West Bank outpost.

The Facebook page “I am also with David of the Nahal Brigade” attracted over 130,000 “likes” and large numbers of pictures of anonymous soldiers and civilians expressing their support for the soldier, who became a poster boy for those frustrated with the levels of restraint exercised by the IDF, a phenomenon, it was alleged, that endangered the lives of soldiers and prevented them from carrying out their duties effectively.

David, the IDF soldier reprimanded in the incident, had been removed from his position as a combat soldier for unrelated disciplinary issues, and was later reinstated.

AFP contributed to this report.