Palestinians broadcast video appearing to show IDF troops fleeing stone-throwers

Palestinian media sites published a video on Saturday that appeared to depict a pair of IDF soldiers fleeing from a group of stone-throwers in a northern West Bank village.

The footage from Kafr Qaddum near Qalqilya shows the troops retreating without firing into the air as standard protocol typically requires. Apparently sensing immediate danger to their lives as the group of at least a dozen Palestinian youth charged toward them hurling rocks, the soldiers chose to quickly fall back.

In a statement responding to the footage, the IDF claimed that it had been doctored and that the troops had chosen to fall back after completing their mission of dispersing the riot.

“The video does not show the other forces present at the event. It is edited in a tendentious manner and does not reflect the action of the fighters in dispersing the riot and the full situation that had taken place,” the IDF said.

The protests came amid an expected rise in tensions in the West Bank and Gaza.

On Friday, the US embassy in Israel issued a travel warning due to concerns over expected anti-American demonstrations in these areas against the upcoming Bahrain summit. It also barred embassy employees and their family members from entering the West Bank from June 24-26.

The US administration and Bahrain announced in mid-May that they would host the economic workshop in the Bahraini capital of Manama June 25-26, and that it “will facilitate discussions on an ambitious, achievable vision and framework for a prosperous future for the Palestinian people and the region.”