IDF soldiers get 6 months for beating Palestinian detainees

An IDF military court sentences three Israeli soldiers from the religious Netzah Yehuda Battalion to 190 days in prison as part of a plea deal reached with military prosecutors.

Under the agreement reached last week, the soldiers plead guilty to aggravated abuse in the January incident and in addition to the jail times, were demoted a rank.

The two other soldiers indicted for their role in the January incident have yet to reach similar plea agreements with military prosecutors, but an IDF official said last week the two sides were still working to negotiate one.

The three soldiers were part of a group of five servicemen of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion who were arrested in January and charged with severely abusing two Palestinian suspects believed to have assisted a terrorist who had killed two of their comrades in a shooting attack at a bus stop.

— Judah Ari Gross