IDF rebukes officer filmed shoving left-wing activist at West Bank rally

The military announces that an officer filmed shoving a protester to the ground during a rally by left-wing Israeli and Palestinian activists over the weekend in the West Bank has been censured.

The Israel Defense Forces says an investigation found that some protesters physically attacked soldiers and verbally accosted them in an alleged effort to provoke them, while blocking a road to the Avigayil outpost. The protesters have denied violently blocking the road.

Despite the alleged violence by the activists, the IDF says the troops should not have used riot dispersal means like tear gas and stun grenades.

It also says the officer was wrong to shove the demonstrator, while criticizing the video of the incident as “partial,” and not reflecting “the violence against the military force.”

The left-wing Combatants for Peace group, which helped organize the protest, slammed the rebuke as insufficient.

“We call for the defense minister’s immediate interference in this shameful decision,” it says.

סמג״ד הנדסה בדרום הר חברון לא כובש את יצרו מול פעיל שלום, שליווה הבאת מיכלית מים לבני המקום ביחד עם פעילי @cforpeace1 וסיים את האירוע עם חשד לשבר בארובת העין וצלעות שבורות. ״ותדע כל אם עבריה״? בושה לצבא שאלו מפקדיו. הכיבוש משחית ואלו פניו המכוערים.@gantzbe @IDFSpokesperson pic.twitter.com/mZgtwaJNTK

— Yoav Groweiss ????️يوآف غروفايس (@yoav_gro) September 17, 2021