Two Israeli soldiers were indicted for shooting a bound Palestinian with a rubber bullet at point-blank range.
A court-martial charged a lieutenant-colonel and a staff-sergeant Thursday with “conduct unbecoming” in connection with last month’s shooting in the West Bank village of Nilin.
The officer had been videotaped holding a bound and blindfolded Palestinian man while the conscript shot him in the foot with a rubber bullet.
An army medic later tended to the detainee, who was alleged to have violated an army curfew placed on Nilin after villagers held violent demonstrations against the construction of Israel’s security fence nearby.
Military sources quoted the lieutenant-colonel as saying that he ordered the sergeant to cock his weapon within earshot of the Palestinian to discourage him from breaking the curfew. The soldier fired the rubber bullet after having apparently misunderstood the order.
The lieutenant-colonel, who was suspended from his post and then reassigned, is taking responsibility for the incident, the military sources said.
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