IDF chief: Detention, alleged assault of CNN crew in West Bank ‘grave ethical incident’ |
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Monday that an incident last week in which reservists detained and allegedly assaulted a CNN crew, while trumpeting far-right ideology, was a “grave ethical incident.”
The reservist who made the far-right remarks was expected to be dismissed. The entire battalion, of several hundred soldiers, has been removed from operational duties in the West Bank.
“This is a grave ethical incident that is out of line with IDF norms and values. We all swore the soldier’s oath upon enlistment, weapons are to be used solely for the purpose of carrying out the mission, and never for revenge,” Zamir said in a statement published by the army.
“We will not accept such incidents within the ranks of the IDF,” the military chief said.
During the incident on Thursday, near the site of an illegal settler outpost near the Palestinian village of Tayasir — in area A of the West Bank, territory which is supposedly under full civilian and security control of the Palestinian Authority — an Israeli soldier was caught on camera telling CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond that the entire West Bank belongs to Jews and that they were avenging the death of a settler.
Two of the soldiers told the reporters they had been friends with 18-year-old Yehuda Sherman, whose death in a suspected ramming attack near Nablus earlier this month triggered a fresh wave of settler violence.
In CNN’s reportage, a soldier identified as Meir could be heard telling Diamond that the soldiers were carrying out “revenge” for Sherman’s death, adding: “Listen, at the end of the day, if the state doesn’t address what they did — those who murdered the settler… what do you expect us to do?”
During the incident, Diamond said a soldier put his cameraman in a chokehold as troops tried to prevent them from filming.
The soldier behind the alleged assault denies the allegations, which are currently being investigated by the Military Police.
“The allegation regarding violence used by one of the soldiers will be further examined by the relevant authorities, and further action will be determined in accordance with the findings,” the IDF said Monday.
‘Inappropriate remarks’
The military said its investigation into the incident found “several failures” in the conduct of the soldiers toward the reporters.
“One of the soldiers made inappropriate remarks that do not align with IDF values or with the mission of IDF soldiers in the area,” the military said.
However, contrary to the CNN report and what the reservist appeared to claim, the IDF denied that the soldiers were assisting the illegal outpost.
Rather, they had been deployed to the area to dismantle it, the army said.
Troops of Menashe Regional Brigade’s 941st “Netzah Israel” Battalion, a reserve unit made up mostly of former soldiers of the Kfir Brigade’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, were sent to the outpost to “isolate” the area and prevent clashes between the settlers and Palestinians, before Border Police officers arrived to dismantle it, according to the military.
The outpost in question had already been evacuated twice before the incident with CNN, and was cleared again on Sunday night.
The IDF said its investigation into the Thursday incident found that the soldiers “were operating to prevent confrontations.”
“A team of journalists arrived at the scene together with several Palestinians,” the military said. “The soldiers operating in the area distinguished between the reporting team and the group of Palestinian individuals and conducted security checks on both groups.”
Regarding claims that Diamond and two of his colleagues were detained for about two hours, the IDF said that after the “security screening,” the team was released, with the exception of one team member who was set free later after he was confirmed to be a journalist.
The IDF also denied any connection between the soldiers’ conduct at the outpost and the injury of an elderly Palestinian man — allegedly by settlers in the area the night before — as seen in the CNN report.
The military said it has found “no indication that the elderly man was harmed by IDF soldiers” and that it has been unable to verify claims that the man was injured by settlers.
The IDF concluded by saying it “respects and enables freedom of the press in the area and regrets the incident.”
“It should be emphasized that during and after the event, direct contact was maintained with the reporters, including a personal apology regarding the circumstances,” the army added.
In the aftermath of the incident, Diamond and his colleagues wrote on CNN, “The two hours we spent detained… laid bare the settler ideology motivating many of the soldiers who operate in the occupied West Bank – and the ways in which soldiers frequently act in service of the settler movement.”
Rising settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank are reported daily but rarely prosecuted. In recent months, repeated attacks — often from wildcat settler outposts — have led dozens of Palestinian families to flee the northern Jordan Valley, where the incident took place.
Likud MK attacks Zamir
Earlier Monday, the IDF announced that the Netzah Israel Battalion was being suspended from operational duties in the West Bank, but would remain in reserve service and “undergo a process to reinforce its professional and normative foundations.”
With the approval of Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the battalion would return to activity at the end of that process, the military said.
In a public attack a short time after the announcement, the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, criticized Zamir’s decision to suspend the battalion and demanded that it be reversed, saying that the military’s senior command had undermined the troops and harmed their mission.
“I was astonished by the puzzling decision to suspend [the battalion] from operational activity,” Bismuth wrote in a letter to Zamir that he posted on X.
“The issue that requires investigation and treatment is not the conduct of the fighters carrying out their mission to maintain security, but rather the phenomenon of foreign elements being present at an operational event,” Bismuth said.
The Likud MK also claimed that “the senior command was expected to strengthen the fighters and stand behind them unreservedly, and not take a step against them that harms them and their mission.”
Bismuth charged that “the lack of support from the system undermines the fighters’ trust in it, erodes their spirit and sows dangerous hesitation among fighters who are required to act at the moment of truth.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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