IDF convicts commander, soldier in shooting of bound Palestinian
Lt. Col. Omri Burberg was filmed holding the blindfolded prisoner and ordering his soldier, Staff Sgt. Leonardo Korea, to fire a rubber bullet his leg in Na'alin two years ago.
By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Israel news IDF West Bank PalestiniansAn Israel Defense Forces court on Thursday convicted a former commander and a soldier involved in shooting a bound Palestinian at close range in the West Bank city of Na'alin two years ago.
The affair unfolded after Lt. Col. Omri Burberg was filmed holding the blindfolded and bound prisoner and ordering Staff Sgt. Leonardo Korea to fire a rubber bullet his leg. The Palestinian, 27-year-old Ashraf Abu Rahme, was lightly wounded in the incident.
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Video clip shows Ashraf Abu Rahme bound and blindfolded before being shot with a rubber bullet by an IDF soldier, in Naalin on July 7, 2008. |
Burberg and Korea were charged with unbecoming behavior after a military-police investigation into the affair. Burberg was transferred following the incident from his post in Battalion 71 to the armored corps training grounds at Tze'elim.
In response to the relatively light charges, four civil-rights organizations petitioned the High Court of Justice on behalf of Abu Rahme, requesting that the court order the Military Advocate General to change the charge to something more serious.
Military Advocate General Avichai Mandelblit responded by adding attempted threat and behavior unfitting for a commander to the charges against Burburg, and illegal use of a weapon to the charges against Korea.
Burberg arrested Ashraf Abu Rahme on July 7, 2008 for his "involvement in disrupting the peace." The prisoner was taken to the entry of the village, where he was bound and his eyes were covered.
Burberg, who had known Abu Rahme because of his role in previous demonstrations, allegedly said: "Now you will stop demonstrating against the IDF." Abu Rahme responded in Arabic, which suggests he might not understand Hebrew.
The officer suspected that Abu Rahme was lying, and turned to Korea, a soldier on his staff, and asked him: "What do you say - should we take him aside and shoot him with a rubber [bullet]?"
Korea said in response: "I have no problem to shoot him with a rubber [bullet]."
Burberg stood the prisoner on his feet, led him to a nearby jeep and told L. to prepare a rubber bullet. "I already have one in the barrel," L. responded.
At that point, L. aimed at the Palestinian's foot and fired a rubber bullet from a very short range. Burberg allegedly pushed the soldier and shouted at him for shooting a bound prisoner. L. said he thought he had received an order to shoot.
"As a result of the shooting, Abu Rahme suffered superficial injuries on his left toe, was treated by a medic and did not require further care," the chief prosecutor, Colonel Liron Liebman, wrote in the original indictment.
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There is a courageous gentleman who regularly attends the Bil'in protests in his motorised wheelchair. In august 2007 He was caught, blindfolded and bound. He was shot from 2 metres behind in the back. Severed his spinal chord and he is now paralysed from the waist down.
Which, while I am not accusing them of being inaccurate, are noticeably vague. "Lightly wounded" means a variety of different things depending on context. Battlefield or street? The phrase "superficial injuries" has the same problem. Personally, I would not like to get shot in the foot with a rubber bullet at close range and would not consider it a minor issue. Furthermore, to be shot like that while blindfolded and bound is beyond normal violence and is just torture, plain and simple. The fact that these people are not subject to arrest, let alone the fact they haven't been kicked out of the IDF, is just sick.
That it is a steel sphere perhaps 18mm in diameter covered with a thin plastic coating? That people die after being struck with these?
A NYC cop just got convicted of shoving a bicyclist off his bike -- and lying about it, saying the bicyclist had run into him. Nobody here seems to have lied about the facts in the matter. Certainly we're not talking Abu Ghraib.
You might consider comparing this to the Messerli case in Oakland that just finished the trial. There the charges included murder, but the jury found involuntary manslaughter because there was not intent found. In this case, there was malicious intent. And both cases had racial overtones.
We aren't talking about a rogue cop here. We're talking about a rogue nation which belligerent flaunts International Law. This "situation" only happened to come to light because it was captured on film.
is Israel arrests it's criminals be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian...they don't name streets after terrorists or criminals and they don't pass out candy when a settler shoots a Palestinian.
Because they were caught on camera they were forced to press charges. Many palstenians were murdered of camera, and probably the murderers got promoted.
It would have been unbelievable, but history proves that these incidents are very believable. In no civilized, developed and democratic country would the colonel and sergeant be allowed to stay in the military. They shouldn't wonder why they have such a bad reputation. It's actually very counterproductive and clumsy.
Doubt this will make the comments section, but anyways. There is a video of this shooting on youtube with sound. The pundits say it was Palestinian propaganda. I always thought it to be real.
Yup - getting caught and causing embarassment to superior officers. Outrageous.
Great story - from Libya to Pakistan we are surrounded by state-sanctioned be-headings, torture, female genital mutilation, and wholesale slaughter. Your Palestinians-victim-of-the-day met with "superficial injuries on his left toe". Why is it that Palestinian violence against other Palestinians, which wildly exceeds Israeli violence against Palestinians, is never covered by your paper? And where are the stories about Arab human rights abuses, which are rampant and sickening in the extreme? Please spare me. Haaretz actively avoids such uncomfortable and politically un-popular topics.
don't claim to be the "most moral army in the world," now do they?
Israel should definately stop calling itself the "most moral army in the world." Rules of conduct should be just as any other army in the world. Next time instead of sending in young troops to do house to house searches they should just bomb the area to smithereens.
The topic is about IDF having terrorist elements. Not about Libya and Pakistan.
Such a sweet story, Israel punishing an IDF commander and soldier for shooting a rubber bullet at bound and blind-folded Palestinian demonstrator. This news garbage hides the fact that the IDF turns a blind eye or even encourages shootings by Israeli soldiers (with real bullets) of Palestinians civilians. Such chutzpah. Humbug.
"Attempted" threat? Either it is a threat or it is not. Or Gen Mandelblit is assuming that Mr Abu Rahme took it be a joke? Was the Lt.Col convicted as charged? What was the sentence?
The article says they were convicted but I see no mention of any sentence apart from the officer being transferred. Is that it?
For the forsaken
Whats the justice for Lebanese apartheid?
The discussion psm --in case you did not notice is about two IDF thugs not being exposed to true justice because Israel is not a just society. You can squawk all you want about Lebanon--it does not change bthe criminal actions of the worlds most moral Army. Now about that peace plan of yours---????.
In the Captain R case, the charge was improper use of a firearm. The court found it proper to fire a clip into a 13 year old girl's body. Afterall, automatic firearms are supposed to kill. So it was proper to use it to kill. The logic was impeccable.
a young girl wearing a backpack,miles from home approaches an outpost,she refuses to stop despite shouts and warming shots. How was the captain supposed to know she was not carrying a bomb pack that she would trigger even if wounded? Would not be the first time they have used martyrdom brainwashed children? Would not be the first time they have used children
who were videoed shooting an unarmed protestor who was bound and blindfolded inthe foot with a rubber bullet. Whilst one of them fired the shot and the other one held him still? And you expect us to believe that Israel has the sapability of ensuring that it's military at all times abides by the Geneva Convention and the rules of war? Remebering of course if these two hadn't been videoed they probably would be doing the exact same thing. Seemed that they had done this before and got away with it. More cameras to the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
this "headline" is a very cheap shot at propaganda
........Only the misrepresentation of the truth
as a means of coercion" Terrorists: The IDF, The Settlers, The Kahanists Victims: The Pals. Enablers: The U.S.
"Military Advocate General Avichai Mandelblit responded by adding attempted threat and behavior unfitting for a commander to the charges against Burburg, and illegal use of a weapon to the charges against Korea." He actually orders a subordinate--(who does not have the moral spine to refuse)--to shoot the prisoner and it is referred to as "A threat. Give us a break---Israeli Justice---a contradiction in terms.
I was only following orders defence. Although it was attempted, it also lays to rest the purity of arms bullcrap. Israeli soldiers are just as capable of committing war crimes as the next army.
According to the article it was "attempted threat", like he didn't succeed in carrying out the threat. I guess Israel doesn't have laws that cover prisoner abuse and or torture - almost like they'd never signed the Geneva Conventions.
Israel has no legislation defining torture, that complies with Article 1 of the Geneva Convention.
They might get you noticed.
Actually, Israel does indeed have laws against torture. When people talk about Geneva Convention violations, they're specifically talking about the Shin Bets, and only the Shin Bets right to commit acts against the Geneva Convention in situations of grave danger. By Geneva Convention violations, we are not talking about Viet Cong style torture, but rather sleep deprevation, etc. They must then file a formal report which is followed up by a military tribunal. Israel does NOT allow random torture, and while it believes that parts of the Geneva convention can be put aside in situations of need, it does still believe in accountability.
I'm specifically talking about the Geneva Conventions applicable to this case - a civilian prisoner (bound & blindfolded), captured by the IDF in Occupied Territory being abused and/or extrajudicially punished. The only way the Geneva Conventions don't apply is if the West Bank is part of Israel (& we have the BiNational One state solution but no ones told BiBi) - in which case Israel should give all Palestinians citizenship & voting rights if it wants to be "the only democracy in the ME".