Slippery Slope

IDF spokesperson, Brigadier-General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, wrote to the Foreign Ministry to complain about a new propaganda video clip starring successful model Bar Rafaeli, as she did not serve in the IDF. According to Mordechai, it is “a message of leniency and turning a blind eye to draft dodging.”

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Hamza Haloub, an 18 year old Palestinian man, was was shot and seriously injured by an IDF force. Palestinians report that Haloub was injured in the abdomen by live ammunition fired by soldiers on patrol in west Tulkarem, near the Jashouri factories. An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers fired at two Palestinians hurling firebombs at security forces in the area, according to standard operating procedures. (Maan News Agency)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The IDF will pay NIS 80,000 in compensation to A. a teenage Palestinian from South Hebron who was found innocent of rape after being falsely accused and spending 171 days in jail. A. was released after it became clear during the course of his trial that the investigation conducted by the Shai (Samaria and Judea) Police District and the military prosecution was significantly flawed. However, the compensation will come from “the district’s coffer,” i.e. funds that the state exacts from Palestinians and are permitted for use only within the West Bank.

Commander of Central Command, Gen. Nitzan Alon, ordered on the weekend to dismantle the fences surrounding the settlements Ofra and Adam. The fences were erected without authorization and in violation of the law, and deny Palestinians access to their lands. The IDF had committed to the High Court of Justice to dismantle the fences until the end of 2012 and construct alternative ones. Three months after the deadline, Gen. Alon decided to dismantle the fences even though the alternate fences have yet to be erected. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Muhammad Asfour, 23, dies of of his injuries after being hit by a rubber coated steel bullet in his head during a protest in Aboud village.

A UNICEF report finds that Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military are subject to widespread, systematic ill-treatment that violates international law.

IDF forces confiscated a goat and two kids from a Palestinian herder, Kamel Mahamrah, in the South Hebron Hills. In addition, Mahamreh’s donkey has also disappeared. An IDF spokesperson has stated that the herder entered “a closed firing zone in an attempt to steal ammunition”, even though the fate of the area is still under dispute in the High Court of Justice, and even though the herder himself was not arrested or interrogated. (Haaretz via nofiringzone918.org)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The IDF uses a water canon which shoots a smelly liquid known as “skunk water” and which is intended for crowd dispersal to spray homes and businesses not involved in demonstrations it is used to disperse.

(Hebrew – Ynet)

Soubhiya Abu Rahma, the mother of Bassem Abu Rahma, a 30-year-old Palestinian man killed after being hit by a tear gas canister while demonstrating against the separation fence in Bil’in in 2009, filed an appeal on Sunday with Israel’s High Court of Justice requesting a decision on whether to indict the soldiers involved in her son’s death. Four years have passed since the death of Bassem Abu Rahma, and more than two and a half years since a MPCID investigation was opened. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

In the years 2009-2011 the military court system in the West Bank approved more than 97% of the administrative detention warrants issued by the IDF against Palestinians. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)