The High Court told the Chief Military Prosecutor Sunday that the punishment he meted out to an IDF officer involved in an incident which hurt an Arab rioter in the toe was insufficient. The decision was given in response to a petition by four left-wing groups regarding the IDF's handling of an incident in which a battalion commander instructed a soldier to shoot a rubber-coated bullet from close range at the foot of a bound and blindfolded Arab who had participated in violent riots. The incident occurred July 7 at Na'alin, near Modi'in, where Arabs and their leftist sympathizers regularly target security forces with rocks and other forms of violence.
The Arab rioter, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was hurt in his left big toe. He received treatment from an army medic and was released by the soldiers. The incident was caught on videotape by an Arab girl who had been equipped with a camera by the B'tselem organization.
Following the media coverage of the incident, the battalion commander, Lt.-Col. Omri Borberg, and the soldier who fired the shot, were charged with inappropriate conduct. Borberg was transferred to a different post.
The High Court recommended to the Chief Military Prosecutor that he consider pressing more severe charges against the two soldiers, because the relatively light charge of inappropriate conduct "did not convey the proper message regarding values." The court gave the prosecutor 40 days to reconsider his position.
According to news site NFC, the video shot by the Arab girl and transferred to the IDF and news media was edited by leftist group B'tselem and key portions were left out. One portion shows Abu Rahma standing on both feet a short time after his toe was hurt.
A goggle for an eye
Stanislav Davidov's doctors still do not know if they will be able to save his right eye from blindness.
Stanislav Davidov, the IDF soldier whose eyes were severely hurt by an Arab woman who threw acid in his face, will be spending Rosh HaShana at home, but his doctors still do not know if they will be able to save his right eye from blindness.
Davidov faces a year of operations and treatment. His brother, Vitali, told Ynet that his left eye, which was less severely hurt, will be treated first in order to try and improve the vision in it. Then his right eye will be treated.
Vitali said that Stanislav is having a hard time accepting his blindness and that the nurses told him that he cries occasionally. The Davidov family was angry when it heard that IDF soldiers at checkpoints were given goggles following the attack.
"Instead of limiting the Palestinians, they make the soldiers put on something that has nothing to do with the checkpoints," Vitali said.