Jerusalem – An IDF officer was reprimanded, and a squad commander relieved of his post following the conclusion of an internal investigation conducted by the IDF into an incident in October where soldiers shot at a car containing two Palestinian siblings, leaving one dead and one moderately wounded.
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On October 31st, near Halamish in Samaria, an IDF patrol unit opened fire on a vehicle, claiming the car was moving towards them in a suspicious manner. The car’s driver, a 26-year-old Palestinian male, was killed on site and his 33-year-old sister was wounded.
The investigation concluded that deputy commander had mishandled the report of a suspicious vehicle, while the squad commander had handled the incident unprofessionally.
As a result, the company’s deputy commander was reprimanded by the commander of the Givati brigade, and the squad commander, who was the ranking commander in the field at the time of the incident, was relieved of his commanding duties.
A security source told TPS the soldiers had avoided more severe punishment as they had radioed in before opening fire that a the car was speeding toward them. The source noted that soldiers in the region are on high alert and need to be ready to recognize threats and neutralize them within seconds before anyone gets hurt.
Following the release of the findings, the IDF issued a statement that the investigation’s conclusions will be implemented and that the incident will be presented to soldiers in order to avoid similar instances. The military police is conducting its own investigation into the incident, which is still ongoing.
In response to the findings, head of the Joint Arab List MK Ayman Odeh issued a statement condemning the shooting and the lack of consequences for those responsible:
“A brother and sister are riding in a car together, listening to music and joking with each other, when suddenly the car gets riddled with bullets, the brother was killed and the sister wounded. The shooters weren’t put on trial for murder, or even manslaughter, but instead are told that they acted unprofessionally. This horrible reality is only possible because the brother and sister, Muhammad and Latifa Musa, are Palestinians living in the occupied territories, and the shooters were soldiers. This is what occupation looks like.”
The fool, MK Ayman Odeh, shot off his mouth without caring to understand the circumstances. It is the fault of the bloodthirsty Palestinians that there is an environment of terror, where there are brief seconds to assess a situation and how to respond. While random acts of violence can happen anywhere, it is the sheer gall of these terror lovers for making this into an everyday occurrence in Israel. These animals have made kitchen knives, trucks, cars, tractors, etc. into weapons, besides the “humanitarian aid” funded weapons that are used to kill innocent Israelis. I can understand judgment errors, and recognize that there is responsibility. But it takes a murder lover like this to call the soldiers and commanders murderers.
May this MK Ayman Odeh be stricken with diseases that cause much suffering.
*Relieves
The Israeli army are crazy. They should thank the commander for being do vigilant in his effort to protect Israeli lives. Great way to lower morale, cause hesitation in using weapons when they should and on top of all that embolden are bloodthirsty animal enemies.