Video shows Israeli officer hitting activist with rifle butt
Published April 15, 2012
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A video posted on YouTube by a pro-Palestinian group shows a senior Israeli military officer hitting an activist in the face with the butt of his rifle.
The International Solidarity Movement posted a video of the incident, which took place Saturday during a protest bike ride in the Jordan Valley.
Approximately 200 activists, including Palestinians from the West Bank and foreign activists, rode their bikes along Route 90, the Jordan Valley’s main north-south route, to protest what the ISM calls on its website “regular harassment and attacks from Israeli settlers and soldiers.”
Soldiers halted the activists and began taking away their bicycles when they tried to continue to ride. The video shows an officer identified by Haaretz as Lt.-Col. Shalom Eisner hitting an activist in the face with his M-16 rifle. Four activists were wounded in the incident, according to Haaretz.
The IDF said that a complete investigation of the incident has been ordered.
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