Soldier convicted of forcing Palestinian to drive him

A military court on Tuesday convicted a soldier from the Golani Brigade who admitted abusing his authority when he forced a Palestinian to give him a ride in his car, threatening the man at gunpoint.

The soldier was sentenced to 4.5 months in a military prison after taking a plea bargain. He was also to be demoted from the rank of sergeant to the rank of private and pay the complainant NIS 5,400 (about $1,400) in compensation.

The complainant, Yasser Odeh, a 19-year-old resident of the village of Madama in the West Bank, was stopped by the soldier while driving on a road leading to the settlement of Yitzhar in March this year.

The Golani brigade soldier was attempting to leave his military post in an isolated area of the Samaria region, where Israeli vehicles rarely travel. He examined the vehicle’s trunk and backseat, as if conducting a standard security check, but then entered the car, aimed his gun, which was cocked and loaded, at Odeh, and instructed him to drive to Yitzhar.

At some point Odeh saw a bus passing by and called to the driver, saying he has been kidnapped by the soldier, but the soldier ordered him to shut up and to continue driving. Odeh then swerved into a ditch by the side of the road and escaped on foot.

The soldier also abandoned the scene of the crash, and hitched a ride with a bus that was transporting soldiers to a nearby base.

Emily Sheffer Omer-Man, a lawyer with the human rights organization Yesh Din which represented Odeh, said, “This is a severe and shocking incident, and one may hope that convicting the soldier who threatened Mr. Odeh with his gun will deter other security force officials from behaving similarly toward the Palestinian population.”

“Regretfully, it is rare that indictments are served against soldiers even when they commit transgressions much worse than this one against Palestinians,” Omer-Man added.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, in 2013 only 2.2 percent of Military Police investigations ended with indictments.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.