(JTA) — B’Tselem, an Israeli organization that monitors what it considers human rights violations by Israelis in the West Bank, released footage it said showed troops beating up a Palestinian bystander near Ramallah.
The incident occurred on Oct. 6, according to B’Tselem, which released the video on Friday.
On its YouTube channel, B’Tselem titled the video “Soldiers violently and wrongfully arrest a Palestinian youth, al-Bireh, 6.10.2015.” But the group’s description of the incident identifies the Palestinian as a 25-year-old man. He is not named.
The video, captured by wall-mounted security camera, shows a young man bringing supplies into a storage room in the town of El-Bireh. Outside, several individuals can be seen moving quickly. Noticing approaching soldiers, he lifts his hands while crouching.
A soldier then enters the storage room, pushes him down as three others follow in, occasionally beating the man and shoving him around before dragging him out of the storage room.
The soldiers handed him to the Judea and Samaria police and charged that he had thrown rocks, according to B’Tselem.
B’Tselem charged that the police refused to check evidence to counter the soldiers’ claim, including the video. “Only following a hearing on remand at the Ofer military court was police willing to view the footage, which was brought to them on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015,” B’Tselem said. The Palestinian filmed had spent five days in detention before being released on Oct. 11, according to the report.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating the matter, The Jerusalem Post reported.
