Arab MK: IDF soldiers attacked me in Hebron

Israeli Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh claimed on Saturday he was attacked by Israel Defense Forces soldiers during a demonstration in Hebron.

Barakeh, chairman of the Hadash party, said troops pushed him violently and sprayed him with tear gas when they through tear gas and shock grenades into the crowd.

The incident occurred when IDF soldiers asked dozens of leftist and Palestinian demonstrators to disperse. They had staged their protest in front of the settlement inside the West Bank city, a frequent flashpoint for tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Barakeh, however, refused to leave and told the soldiers that the only people able to make such a request were the city's true owners, the Palestinians.

The IDF relayed in response that troops were not at all violent toward the lawmaker. They employed riot control measures, the army said, after the protestors had refused to leave despite an IDF order declaring the area a closed military zone.

The army and police said according to video they took of the incident, it is clear that Barakeh was not attacked.

Last month, Haaretz reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was considering indicting Barakeh for attacking a policeman during a demonstration.

Barakeh is suspected of having assaulted a member of the Israel Prison Service's elite Masada unit at a protest in the West bank village of Bi'ilin in 2005. The policeman was taking a detainee to a police car at the time of Barakeh's alleged assault.

	Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh.
	Photo by: (Emil Salman / Jini)