The IDF suspended a combat soldier on Thursday afternoon, after he was filmed by a camerawoman of the radical leftist NGO B'Tselem shooting one of the Arab terrorists who conducted a stabbing attack in Hevron this morning.
In the attack two terrorists stabbed a soldier at a checkpoint, moderately wounding him before being shot and killed. The soldier was suspended for shooting one of the terrorists after he was already neutralized and apparently already dead.
One of the two terrorists is seen lying on his back for roughly two minutes after having been shot in the B'Tselem footage. At a certain point an IDF soldier approaches the terrorist, cocks his gun and shoots the stabber in the head.
"An initial investigation found that this is a serious incident opposing the spirit of the IDF and what is expected from IDF soldiers and commanders," said the IDF Spokesperson Unit in a statement.
"In light of the findings of the initial investigation conducted by the commanders, a Criminal Investigation Division investigation was launched. The soldier was suspended from his role until the end of the investigation."
In the attack , another soldier was stabbed several times in the upper body and later evacuated to Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, where his condition stabilized and improved, and he was reclassified as lightly wounded.
Hevron has seen a large number of attacks in recent months during the Arab terror wave that has raged since last September. Those attacks included one assault on a soldier in the city in which an Arab terrorist continued to stab his victim even after being shot.
MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid), a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, welcomed the suspension of the soldier, saying, "the murderous despicableness of the terrorists is not a reason for the IDF to collapse its values."
"We must praise the quick response of the army, which opened an investigation and clarified that the act opposes its values. The pictures prove that the statements of the Chief of Staff regarding the ethics of combat were worthy and necessary. Morals are the source of the army's strength, and giving up on them even a little due to the difficulties that the terror raises would harm national security."
Shelah's statements were echoed by those of MK Issawi Frej (Meretz), who said, "today we saw a demonstration of the banality of evil, of how IDF uniforms are not a guarantee of humanity. We saw a soldier murder, shoot in cold blood the head of a helpless wounded person, and the murder is accepted with apathy, no one around him was upset."
The Arab MK continued, saying, "this murderer soldier is not alone, he merits a tail wind from ministers, Knesset members and rabbis, who with their words give authorization to murder. For the murder we saw and apparently many other instances of murder that were hidden from us. The soldier must stand trial for murder! Any other decision will be inhumane, non-democratic and inappropriate."