An elite IDF soldier shoots an unarmed Palestinian man point blank in the leg while he’s restrained and in custody. Another soldier from the same elite unit shoots a camel in a drive-by. Which of the two do you think is in jail right now?
In early October, undercover soldiers from the IDF’s elite “Duvdevan” (“cherry”) unit infiltrated a crowd of Palestinian stone throwers at a protest in northern Ramallah.
Soon after arriving, the undercover soldiers began trying to arrest some of the “central agitators,” as the army later described them.
Three soldiers tackled and started beating one of the young Palestinian men. Two held him down while a third soldier pulled out his pistol, pressed it into the man’s thigh, and shot him point blank in the leg.
The army’s response to that incident was to argue that shooting the already detained, restrained and unarmed man in the leg — point blank — was a justifiable “special tactic” intended to enable the troops to retreat as quickly as possible. In other words, it was expedient.
Needless to say, none of the soldiers were arrested.
Fast forward a month and a bit and soldiers from the same elite commando unit are caught on camera in another controversial shooting.
This time, two IDF soldiers from Duvdevan are filmed — well, actually, this time they filmed themselves — carrying out a drive-by shooting of … a camel.
Needless to say, the two soldiers were arrested immediately after the video came to light, and have had their remands extended three times thus far.
“This was a serious incident that does not meet the standards expected from IDF soldiers,” the army said in a statement.