Christian Arab soldier admits he lied about assault

A Christian Arab soldier who said he was brutally attacked Sunday by a group of Arab teenagers for serving as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces has admitted to police that he made the story up and inflicted his own injuries to corroborate his claims.

The soldier initially claimed that he was ambushed by 10 Arab teenagers while waiting in uniform at a Nazareth bus stop. He said the group had expressed anger at the increasing enlistment of Christian Arabs to the Israeli army. He added that the attackers chased him into the nearby woods where they brutally beat and kicked him, leaving him in need of medical attention. After the attack, he continued, he was taken to a hospital in Tiberias for medical treatment and was released later that night.

When investigators questioned him on Monday, however, they noticed a number of discrepancies in his account and became suspicious of his version of events. He then confessed to police that the attack never happened, and that his injuries were self-inflicted.

The unnamed soldier was being held for questioning for giving a false police statement and for obstruction of justice. The case will be transferred to the Military Police for further investigation.

The reports of his attack had elicited angry responses by politicians and activists who criticized the state for failing to protect soldiers volunteering to serve in the military.

Among those who condemned the attack was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called for a swift investigation into the incident and urged harsher penalties for those perpetrating attacks on IDF soldiers.

The Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum — a group advocating for Israel’s Christian Arabs to voluntarily enlist in the IDF — said in a statement Monday that it hoped the soldier’s false claims would not divert attention from what it stressed was a real issue.

“We regret that the soldier chose to exploit the hardships and instances of violence faced by Christian soldiers in Israel for his own personal gain,” the statement said, according to a report in Ynet.

The statement noted a number of incidents in which Christian soldiers have faced a violent backlash from their communities, where some consider the recruits to be traitors.

According to Greek Orthodox priest Father Gabriel Naddaf, over a dozen Christian Arab soldiers have been attacked since the start of 2015.

Naddaf, an outspoken proponent of Christian Arab enlistment in the IDF, said the attacks against Christian soldiers were attempts by some in the Israeli-Arab community to intimidate recruits from minority sectors against serving in the IDF and subsequently integrating into Israeli society.

“There is shock and anger within the Christian community. We are in the process of recruiting members of the community to promote coexistence,” Naddaf said after photos of the soldier’s injuries began circulating online.

He urged Israeli officials to address the issue, which he said could prevent potential recruits from minority communities from joining the military.

Naddaf has become a controversial figure in Israel since joining the Israel Christians Recruitment Forum in October 2012 and for openly calling on Israeli Christians to serve in the IDF. His activities have drawn criticism from Arab MKs, as well as threats against his family. His son was assaulted and hospitalized in December 2013 because of his father’s views.