Israeli Soldiers Setting Dogs On Palestinian Boy Captured on Video

By R. Siva Kumar - 05 Mar '15 18:03PM

A horrifying video shows a 16-year old Palestinian boy, Hamzeh Abu Hashem, yelling even as a dog bites him all the time, while Israeli soldiers hold him down. One of the attackers is asking the dog to "bite him" and asks "who's chicken?" according to a Haaretz translation. Another soldier eggs the dog to "get him."

The soldiers attacked the 16-year-old last December 23, 2014. The videotape of the incident was shot by former ultra nationalist Knesset member, Michael Ben-Ari, who posted it on Facebook with the caption: "The soldiers taught the little terrorist a lesson." The video went viral after it was shared on the internet, according to rt.com.

A probe has been ordered into the Israeli soldiers, according to libertycrier. Israeli chief military prosecutor has ordered the investigation.The use of dogs has been suspended.

As far back as in 2012, the IDF had decided to halt the use of dogs in order to stop protests, but they are sometimes still used in ambushes.

The attack took place in the 'buffer zone' in the West Bank, between the town of Beit Ummar and the nearby Israeli settlement of Carmei Tzur, which is located south of the town, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.

The IDF has said that after conducting an "internal inquiry", "the necessary steps will be taken to prevent such incidents from recurring." Military Advocate General Major General Danny Efroni has asked for a probe into the soldiers.

Hashem's father is quoted by Haaretz as saying that the youth was treated for dog bites at a hospital before he was shifted to a jail. "We, his mother and I, watched the video, and we couldn't believe what we were seeing," he said. "My wife almost fainted. I don't know if there's a mother or father in the world who can be indifferent to such pictures.

"It pained us very much, especially the fact that the boy was helpless and the soldiers rejoiced over him."

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem comments that it is "standard" army practice. There were many such incidents last year too, according to the group.

The incident was dubbed as "not unusual" by a projects coordinator for Breaking the Silence, who is also a former IDF soldier leftwing organization. "While you are a part of the army, those kind of events happen. It's not unusual. When you use an army to control a population, when you create an occupation, that's the kind of reality that comes out," Achiya Schatz told RT.

"The investigations don't lead anywhere. If we don't end the occupation incidents like that are just going to rise again and again. As a soldier you're being told to make your presence felt to frighten the population," he said. "It's very easy to cross the line and many times you don't know where the lines are."

In this case, the dog is being used as a weapon. "This specific dog is an attack dog. It's trained to attack. Here we see a dog used against a 16 year old kid. What you see here isn't the dog being used to restrain but the dog being used to terrify," he said.