The IDF said it was investigating an incident that occurred in the West Bank on Friday in which IDF soldiers allegedly assaulted two AFP journalists. But there have been incidents in which soldiers were punished when abuses were caught on camera.
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The Israeli military said, “Forces operated in contradiction to procedures and in violation of standing orders” in dealing with AFP journalists.
“He punched my camera and he breaks the microphone, and I didn’t have time to hide the camera behind me”, says Andrea Bernardi, one of two journalists in the video.
The incident was filmed and posted online by a local production company. Army spokesman Colonel Peter Lerner told the agency that “disciplinary measures will be taken”. Some of the incident is caught on the video.
The Foreign Press Association condemned the “deplorable behaviour of the IDF soldiers”.
“It is time for the IDF command to act, to show it respects the freedom of the press and that it has control over the behaviour of soldiers on the ground”, the FPA said in a statement.
The journalists had previously been authorised to enter the area and were identifiable from their body armour marked “press” and their equipment. They were in the region covering ongoing clashes between Palestinians and soldiers when they were taken aside by Israeli troops and warned to stop recording events.
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“Members of the police repeatedly beat, hit, violently shoved and used pepper spray against photographers and cameramen, despite the journalists having clearly identified themselves and not posing any threat to the police’s security operations”, reads a statement from the FPA. Khatatbeh died of his wounds after being shot by soldiers near Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria after throwing a firebomb at an Israeli auto, which subsequently flipped over. The army claimed he and another man had thrown a petrol bomb at a vehicle on a road to the Jewish settlement of Itamar.
