National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has expressed his support of the soldier filmed assaulting a Palestinian-Arab activist in Hebron on Monday.
Writing on Twitter, Ben-Gvir stated, "This anarchist who constantly harasses IDF soldiers in Hebron and tries to prevent them from carrying out their tasks has been at it again, just this time, he was accompanied by a film crew from the American media. I wholeheartedly support the soldier who did not remain silent. Soldiers need to know we have their backs, rather than being sent to prison."
The soldier concerned was filmed knocking PA-Arab activist Issa Amro to the ground and kicking him. Amro was accompanied by a US film crew that included prominent journalist Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker, who wrote afterward that, "I never had a source assaulted in front of me until today, when an Israeli soldier who stopped my interview did this with a Palestinian peace activist Issa Amro in Hebron. I can't stop thinking how dehumanizing the occupation is on the young soldiers charged with enforcing it."
The incident allegedly began with Amro claiming that he wanted to take Wright on a tour of his home-town and being denied passage by the soldier. He took out his camera and started filming the soldier while approaching him. The soldier then took Amro aside, asking him to wait until a senior officer arrived. Amro began yelling and cursing; in response, the soldier pushed him back in the direction he had come from.
The soldier later said that Amro hit him on the elbow and in response, he shoved him onto the sidewalk and kicked him. Amro asked for help but when an army medic arrived, he declined to accept his assistance. He was later detained for questioning.
Amro later told Kan News that he had been filming soldiers in Hebron while accompanied by Wright, and that one of the soldiers told him to stop filming and delete what he had already recorded, which he refused to do. He then claimed that his exchange with the soldier intensified until the soldier hit him and kicked him, causing him injuries. He went to hospital to be examined and was discharged shortly afterward.
The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright later posted an additional clip on his Twitter account in which he claimed that Amro did nothing to provoke the violence: "The IDF is misrepresenting what led to assault on peace activist Issa Amro in Hebron yesterday. The soldier initiated the encounter. Amro did not curse or interfere only asked that he call the commander. Nothing to justify the attack that followed." However, the crucial moments between the end of this clip and the beginning of the violence have not been released although apparently the documentation does exist.
The IDF issued a statement following the incident: "Following the documentation, the incident was thoroughly investigated by officers, and it emerged that a violent encounter developed between a Palestinian and an IDF soldier in Hebron, during which the soldier hit the Palestinian. Following the investigation's conclusions, the soldier was sentenced to ten days confinement, at the end of which a decision will be made on his future army service. The IDF views with gravity all violent behavior and condemns it."