Two soldiers indicted for 'savage' attack on Druse comrade

An investigation into the beating of the soldier was opened after family members took to social media posting pictures of the bloodied soldier.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: DECEMBER 26, 2017 23:20
IDF soldiers during a training exercise (photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF soldiers during a training exercise
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Two soldiers were indicted on Tuesday for attacking a sergeant serving in their unit earlier this month, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
The suspects were charged with assault causing serious injury under aggravated circumstances.
An investigation by the Military Police into the beating of the soldier, a Druse, was opened after family members took to social media posting pictures of the bloodied soldier lying unconscious on the ground after the savage beatings.
According to the indictment the two soldiers beat the Druse soldier in two separate incidents, reportedly after he complained after the first beating, leaving him with a bleeding and broken nose. Following the beatings, he required medical treatment and prolonged sick leave “He was savagely kicked and punched by two soldiers for refusing to vacate his dorm. The following day, they attacked him again, until he lost consciousness and lay prone, bleeding and humiliated on the ground,” his family wrote in a viral Facebook post. “The soldier felt it might cost him his life.
Luckily, soldiers and other officers who were nearby stopped the incident – otherwise it is impossible to know how it might have ended.”
The family member went on to say that the commander of the victim’s base in the North – an officer with the rank of lieutenant-colonel – denied his request to be taken to a doctor in a military vehicle after he explained he was in extreme pain, reportedly telling him that he had to make his own way there.
Minorities in the IDF: Muslim, Christian, Beduin, Druze, Circassian soldiers (Courtesy: IDF Spokesperson"s Unit)
Only hours later did the base commander agree to use a military vehicle to transport him to the hospital, but despite doctors recommending that he go home to rest, he was summoned back to his base.
The victim’s grandfather Sa’id Hussein told Yediot Aharonot that everyone on the base should be held to account.
“Look at the pictures. They speak for themselves. I wouldn’t say these were blows. I would say this was an attempted murder,” he said. “Everyone on the base responsible needs to be held to account. It doesn’t matter whether he was a Druse soldier, a Muslim soldier or a Jewish soldier. He is a soldier in the IDF.”
Alongside the filing of the indictment, the military prosecution asked that the suspects be remanded until the end of the legal proceedings against them.
“The IDF will not accept violence against soldiers, and will continue to act with all the tools at its disposal, to prevent the recurrence of similar events and to bring to justice those who acted violently and against the law,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
Eric Sumner contributed to this report.


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