From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 12, 2024
3 suspected of August assault on Palestinian accused of beating him to unconsciousness, dumping him near checkpoint
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
An indictment filed against a police officer in the Yasam special patrol police unit, a Border Police volunteer, and a civilian reveals shocking details of how they allegedly assaulted and severely beat a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank, and then dumped at the side of a road by a checkpoint, unconscious and bleeding.
The indictment filed by the Department of Internal Police Investigations charges the three men with aggravated assault, abduction, and aiding an abduction, for their roles in a violent attack against the Palestinian man in August, as well as the illegal possession of weapons and other firearms offenses.
According to the indictment the three men, who are all friends, attacked a Palestinian man who was spending time with his friends at freshwater springs in the Nahal Auja area in the Jordan Valley region of the West Bank, north of the Kochav Hashahar settlement.
The incident began when the Border Police volunteer, Dvir Oni, who was on active duty with another volunteer and IDF soldiers, asked to inspect the ID and telephones of the Palestinian men for a security check.
According to the indictment, a picture on the phone of the Palestinian victim showed him draped in a green flag, which made the police officers and soldiers suspect that he was connected with a terror organization.
One of the soldiers then handcuffed the man, after which Oni began violently assaulting him, slamming his head into a car, and kicking and punching him.
Oni then sent a message to the Yasam police officer, Tiran Galmodi, as well as Saar Ofir, a civilian, with his location, and the two men arrived a short while later with their faces masked and took the opportunity to beat the Palestinian man severely all over his body, the indictment alleges.
Galmodi, who was suspended from duty at the time of the incident, kicked the man in the head and beat him with a tree branch, and Ofir struck him on the eye with the butt of a dummy rifle he was carrying.
The men beat the victim so severely that he passed out during the assault.
He was then put into Galmodi’s car, and Galmodi and Ofir drove him to the Hamra Checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley and “dumped” him there, unconscious and bleeding. Only hours later did the man manage to get to a nearby road in order to get medical treatment.
He sustained broken bones and severe injuries to his head and body as a result of the assault.
In addition to the other charges, Galmudi is accused of obstructing the investigation by calling one of the soldiers involved in the incident and instructed him to give a false account of the events.
During the investigation, large amounts of illegally held weaponry and ammunition were found in the possession of Ofir and Galmodi, including assault rifles, hand grenades, and thousands of bullets.
Six other suspects in the case have yet to be charged.
Ofir, a resident of the Elkana settlement in the central West Bank, was previously arrested in July on suspicion of executing a Hamas terrorist captured by IDF troops in Gaza but charges were ultimately not filed in that case.
