Two Arab teens were killed, shot during violent clashes near Shechem with IDF soldiers on shabbos. Military officials report they were using rubber bullets during violence, but PA doctors report they were shot with live ammunition, insisting the entry and exit wound of the dead teen could not have been made by rubber bullets.

Seeking to validate the claim was a representative of the radical left-wing so-called human rights organization B’tselem, who stated the information provided to him by doctors confirms the claims that live ammunition was used.

Preliminary information gathered by IDF investigators indicates rubber bullets were fired, not live ammunition, but as has become the norm, a more in-depth probe has been launched, and once again, soldiers who are compelled to defend themselves are the subject of an internal investigation.

B’tselem has been documented for its staunch pro-Arab support, taking part in many a provocative act to paint soldiers in a dim light, seeking to portray them as abusers of Arab rights, soldiers who indiscriminately fire at innocent civilians without justification.

In this case, IDF officials explain that teargas and rubber bullets were used, citing the escalating riots in the area over a well which Arabs insist the Jews are trying to claim. Soldiers once again found themselves in a life-threatening situation, but they acted according to protocol, using riot-dispersal adjuncts, but once again, they are under investigation.

This may explain why last week a soldier from Kfir who found himself with a number of colleagues in a PA area of Chevron did not use his weapon, opting to be humiliated by locals, who made them remove their shoes and hand over their cell phones, perhaps realizing this was preferable to facing an investigation for firing his weapon.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)