Israeli soldiers are caught on video making an unprovoked assault on two journalists working for Agence France-Presse during a demonstration in the village of Beit Furik on the West Bank a week ago. Coverage of the brutal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is unwelcome by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) although, officially, journalists are permitted to do their work. This video, taken by a Palestinian camera crew (Palmedia), shows the two journalists walking down the road towards a protest before having their equipment seized and smashed. During the encounter, which is under investigation by the Israeli army, one of the journalists was punched in the neck and face by a soldier. “They thought these are crazy young soldiers so, as you see on the video, they left. But the soldiers came and at this moment took the stills camera and took everything in the photographer’s pocket – batteries, memory cards. Andrea then came back to recover his destroyed camera. At this point a soldier jumped on him and put a pistol on his face and attacked him.” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/25/israeli-soldiers-attack-agence-france-presse-journalists-west-bank As usual, the IDF said they would investigate and, get this, their spokesman said, "those involved would face disciplinary action." Ha! Ha! Ha! [video=youtube;bY1rtlWv-lI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY1rtlWv-lI[/video]
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which works with foreign journalists based in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, said that while it welcomed the Israel Defense Force (IDF) promise of an investigation, “our concern is that had this not been caught on camera, nothing would be done.” The FPA went on to state, “Units of the IDF too frequently act with impunity ... The Foreign Press Association has raised its concerns with the IDF on multiple occasions but seen no discernible change in behavior.” http://www.timesofisrael.com/foreign-press-group-blasts-idf-for-attack-on-afp-reporters/ I have news for the FPA, nothing will be done this time either.
The commander of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers seen assaulting two reporters from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday in the Occupied West Bank was "suspended from operational duty". The IDF released a statement yesterday stating, “The preliminary review of the occurrences in Beit Furik revealed that the officer in charge did not conduct himself in accordance to professional expectations." There was no news yet of disciplinary action taken against any of the soldiers involved in the assault and destruction of equipment. Against expectation, something was done by the IDF and it must be supposed that the video footage shot by the Palestinian crew and which went viral, was a factor. http://www.timesofisrael.com/commander-of-troops-seen-attacking-foreign-journalists-removed-from-post/
