IDF soldier’s ‘execution’ raises concerns over resurgent violence

A video documenting an IDF soldier putting a bullet in the head of a Palestinian terrorist who was already sprawled on the ground injured after attacking Israeli troops in Hebron is the main subject of political condemnation and media attention in Friday’s papers. After the army arrested the soldier and opened a probe into the incident caught on camera, the image of an Israeli infantryman pointing his rifle and firing at the incapacitated man appears on the front page of all three major Hebrew newspapers.

Haaretz is the only paper to call the incident “an execution in cold blood” in the opening words of its coverage, but Yedioth Ahronoth calls it like it is in its headline: “A bullet in the head.” Israel Hayom, while it runs the biggest story in Thursday’s news on the front page, decides to bury it beneath its coverage of Purim festivities across the country.

The interpretation of the events documented in the video also differs between the papers. Yedioth Ahronoth reports that “no movement by the terrorist can be seen before the shooting. Moreover, the soldiers and officers and rescue service workers at the scene pay no heed to the shooting and behave apathetically.” Haaretz reports that “the Palestinian moves his head from time to time, such that he’s still alive at this point, but it’s apparent that he no longer presents any danger.” Not only does the army not treat the injured man, but the paramedics don’t either, it notes, and instead they photograph him for dissemination on social media.

The papers report that one of the soldiers can be heard in the video saying, “The terrorist is still alive, that dog, [make sure] he doesn’t rise up against us.” The footage itself suggests it may have been a civilian member of the rescue team who delivered the line.

Israel Hayom leads with political responses instead of the events themselves, highlighting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s condemnation of the incident. The reactions of Netanyahu’s coalition allies, some of which include praise for the soldier’s actions, are absent.

Haaretz doesn’t blur out the faces of the soldier involved in the shooting, nor the Palestinian, but Yedioth Ahronoth blurs the face of just the soldier, ostensibly to protect his identity, and Israel Hayom blurs both.

As is typical with an incident such as this, the Hebrew media devotes more ink to analyzing and commenting on the matter than reporting it.

“This horrible video will pour a bit more gasoline on the burning fire of the intifada, but this is only half of the trouble,” Haaretz columnist Yossi Verter opines. The real problem is “the complete apathy to the fate of the injured enemy, who the laws of war require to treat from the moment he no longer presents a threat.” Verter also voices legitimate concern about the fact that none of the Israeli soldiers or paramedics bat an eye when the weapon is discharged.

He says that there have been several cases since October in which Israeli security forces used excessive force — citing the shooting of a Palestinian teen who stabbed civilians on Jaffa Road with scissors and the murder of an Eritrean innocent in an mob attack in Beersheba. Verter says it’s likely there are other instances that simply aren’t documented, “and it would seem the army isn’t going out of its way to investigate what isn’t known.”

Yedioth Ahronoth’s Yoav Limor concurs with Verter when it comes to the potential of the incident to inflame Palestinians, saying the video has the potential to turn the tide in the current conflict and stir up violence that has recently subsided. He says the incident filmed Thursday was the most serious not only in the “intifada” the IDF refuses to recognize, but in recent years — which, considering the number of wars Israel has had in Gaza since 2008, is saying something.

“This incident isn’t comparable to the episode in which Benjamin Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Israel Shomer got out of his car and shot at stone-throwers, or [when] Colonel Shalom Eisner attacked protesters with his weapon, situations which could possibly have been excused as a loss of control under pressure, or following operational procedure,” he says. “This time the pictures speak for themselves.”

He says the explanation that the shooter was concerned about a possible explosive device is problematic: “If that’s what he thought, why didn’t he shoot immediately instead of waiting six minutes to do it?” He suspects the soldier will have a hard time getting anything short of a manslaughter charge.

Israel Hayom’s Yoav Limor joins the chorus of criticism against the actions documented in the video, but at the same time says it’s “sad that this episode competes for world news headlines with the Brussels terror attacks” and that it lends legitimacy to left-wing advocacy groups such as Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem. At the same time, he insists, “those who deem filming as treason should remember that the problem is not in the publicity, but in the act itself.”

Ironically, the paper’s Haim Shine also urges readers to give the soldier the benefit of the doubt and not call for blood without due process. “Despite the severity of the alleged action, I can’t understand the outburst of celebration by the left, the harsh condemnations or the gloating” over the soldier’s alleged criminality.