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Israeli Soldiers Are Fighting for Their Right to Point Guns at Young Palestinians

The Israeli soldier known as David Hanahlawi, disciplined for aiming a rifle at Palestinian teens, has received 129,000 likes on Facebook.
Photo via AP

Members of the Israeli armed forces have taken to social media in huge numbers to support a soldier who was disciplined after video footage emerged of him kicking, swearing, and pointing a cocked weapon at Palestinian youths during a confrontation in the West Bank.

The army placed the soldier — known as David Hanahlawi (Hanahlawi is slang term for a member of the Nahal Brigade he served with) — under review and in response, thousands hit Facebook to post anonymous messages of support.

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The incident took place in the Hebron region of the occupied West Bank and is bordering on routine in the area, where a small minority of Israeli settlers live under IDF protection among thousands of Palestinians. The outpouring of anger from Israeli army personnel about their working conditions and treatment while deployed in the West Bank, however, has not been seen in years.

In the video, a Palestinian teenager squares up to the Israeli soldier and gets involved in a brief shoving match, before the soldier raises and cocks his assault rifle then points it directly at the youth.

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Another young Palestinian jumps out behind the soldier, who quickly trains his sights on him. The first youth then tries to drag the newcomer away from the soldier and the soldier aims a kick at them as they retreat.

The Israeli then moves towards the person videoing proceedings, swears and orders them to turn off the camera or he will shoot them in the head. The footage was taken by activist organization Youth Against Settlements on April 27, the group's director Issa Amro told VICE News.

This video showing an Israeli soldier pointing a loaded rifle at Palestinian youth has caused a stir on social media. Video via YouTube/Human1Rights1Press.

One of the youths involved was apparently detained on April 30 by IDF personnel and held for a time on suspicion of having had a chain or knuckle duster in the incident on video, although according to Amro, they were actually prayer beads.

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A military spokesperson told AP that the soldier's behavior "did not seem to fall in line with what we expect from our soldiers, as far as conduct is concerned." He added that the man was also facing time behind bars for hitting his commanders.

'I would have acted like David the warrior from the Nahal Brigade. He did the right thing.'

Nevertheless, a Facebook page was launched last Wednesday, voicing support for the soldier and anger at what some saw as the IDF throwing him under the bus to avoid a PR shitstorm. The page now has around 129,000 likes. Both members of the armed forces and civilians showed their backing for the soldier by posting pictures of themselves — often with faces covered to avoid disciplinary measures — holding signs saying, “We stand with David Hanahlawi.” Others posed with their hands “tied” to protest command decisions which they said made them unable to act against Palestinian provocateurs.

This viewpoint was summed up in a Jewish Press piece, which complained that members of the Israeli armed forces were held back from doing their jobs and defending themselves for fear of kickstarting a media row. “IDF soldiers are tired of having their hands tied in the face of Arab provocations and attacks, and worse, not having the backing of the IDF’s senior staff, who are terrified of the media,” the article read.

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They were not alone. Naftali Bennett, Israeli minister of the economy, and head of the really quite right-wing, religious Zionist HaBayit HaYehudi (The Jewish Home) party posted his support on his Facebook page, and said that he would have done the same thing. “I would have acted like David the warrior from the Nahal Brigade,” Bennett wrote. “I watched a video circulated by left-wing groups, which displays a Nahal Infantry soldier acting against a hostile Arab organization, and he cocked his weapon. He did the right thing.”

“What you see in the video is very simple," the politician continued. "They used violence against him. He was alone, surrounded by a number of violent and provocative Arabs. He did not open fire. He took reasonable steps to defend himself and those around him and brought the incident to an end.”

Bennett went on to add that the fact that incident was caught on video was “not a coincidence” and that IDF soldiers faced "guns, rocks, and hostile cameras." “Two cameras were present during the incident, and this is not a coincidence. The extreme left wing survives on the slandering of IDF fighters. This should be denounced across the political spectrum.”

The IDF Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, was not amused at the show of social media support, however. In remarks reported by local media, he said at a senior meeting: “It is important for us to remember and unequivocally tell our commanders that Facebook is not a tool for leadership…. it does not replace nor even equal the discourse between officers and their soldiers."

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The IDF were also obviously less than happy with the video itself, however. Amro said Israeli forces have raided Youth Against Settlements’ offices on four occasions since the video was published. Amro explained that soldiers arrived at their premises once on May 1, twice on May 2, then again over the weekend, specifically looking for the cameraperson who made the footage. “They were threatening us as an activist group and on Saturday morning they came to the entrance of the center and threatened one of the people who filmed the famous video," Amro said.

Video footage of clashes is increasingly common in the West Bank. Rights group B’Tselem even gave 150 video cameras to Palestinian families in the area to document violence by Israeli forces. In this case, however, the footage seems to have had the unintended consequence of uniting a large chunk of the Israeli military behind a supposed perpetrator of abuses, but at the same time leading them to question their leadership.

Follow John Beck on Twitter: @JM_Beck