Settler Repeatedly Tasered by Police Despite Not Resisting Arrest

Footage surfaced of police repeatedly electroshocking a rightwing activist and settler even as the Yitzhar resident lay on the floor not resisting arrest and pleading for them to stop.

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The officers of Israel Police's special patrol unit, arrived at Tekuma, a West Bank outpost adjacent to Yitzhar, in order to arrest Boaz Albert, who last week was handed an administrative warrant forbidding him from entering the West Bank for six months. Albert, 40, stated he would continue to disobey the warrant, which was issued by the Shin Bet security services for undisclosed security reasons.

Policemen drove to the nearby Palestinian village of Uriff, which is located about one Kilometer from Yitzhar, and walked from there up to Yitzhar, making their way to Albert's residence after dark. The force burst into the house at around 8:30 P.M. At the time, Itzik Shadmi, head of the Committee of Binyamin Settlers was visiting with Albert, the latest in a series of high profile figures who have come to express solidarity with what they consider Albert's civil disobedience in the face of an unjust warrant keeping him away from his home.

In the video documenting the arrest, Albert is seen running to a room in the house's interior and lying down on the floor. Officers rush in after him, and during their attempts to pick him up, electroshock him repeatedly with Taser guns - despite the fact he is not actively resisting their efforts. Twisting his arm, police drag him out of the house, while in the background the cries of a child being blocked inside a room can be heard. One of Albert's children was shoved by an officer.

According to Shadmi, "One of the people tried to leave through the door. A policeman shot him with a Taser gun without any warning whatsoever, and he lay down on the floor, writhing in pain. In the meantime, five policemen jumped him, lay him on the ground, and nearly broke his arm. He begged with pain, yelling that he was not offering resistance [Albert's] wife and I asked them to stop the violence. They didn't hear, and later took him out and left. By the way he was yelling on the way out, I understood he was tasered more than once."

Albert's younger brother Hanoch, who was also present at the house during the arrest, was also treated to electroshock. Due to a report of a shooting, many ambulances quickly arrived at the scene. Hanoch was evacuated to a hospital where the Taser gun's hooks were dislodged from his abdomen.

After police left, a group of youths from the settlement descended to a nearby road, where they commenced throwing stones at Palestinians' passing cars. Fields adjacent to the village of Burin were set on fire.

In response to Albert's arrest, MK Orit Strock (Habayit Hayehudi) who visited him two hours before his arrest, said: "I call for the release of Boaz Albert, whose only crime is refusing to obey an undemocratic, immoral deportation order. A ruling made solely for the purpose of shutting mouths. A ruling not even the head of a crime family would be handed. A ruling of the kind only given to settlers, who are seen as class D citizens by the legal authorities."