Two more suspects arrested in beating of a Palestinian man in Hebron

Israel Police arrested two more people early Monday on suspicion of being involved in an attack on a Palestinian man and a Golani soldier by a group of Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday. The arrest of the two, a man and a minor, came hours after the arrest of two Jewish teenagers on Sunday. The police said in a statement that an additional six, three men and three minors, were arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks and causing damage to Palestinian owned vehicles in the flashpoint city. All the suspects were brought for a remand hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Monday morning. Police on Sunday said they had “responded to an incident that took place in Hebron when a Palestinian and a soldier were attacked,” and have opened an investigation into the incident in which evidence, such as video footage of the attack, is being collected. In video footage of the incident that took place in Hebron's Old City and was widely shared on social media, a group of six Jews wearing skullcaps can be seen attacking the Palestinian man, with one of them putting him in a headlock as others hitting and kicking him before an IDF soldier rushes forward to break up the beating. In the video, the soldier, who serves in Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion and was later identified by his first name Effi, manages to free the man, identified as Ibrahim Badar, from the crowd and urges him to leave the scene, but moments later, several other Jews chase them both and begin to attack them once again. Badar, who required medical attention and was taken to hospital by IDF troops following the assault, told Ynet he was simply walking down Shuhada Street to work, in the Israeli-controlled part of the city, when he was assaulted near an IDF post. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi praised the conduct of the soldier who helped stop the beating of a Palestinian man by a Jewish mob. Kochavi met on Sunday with interim police chief Motti Cohen to discuss the incident, emphasizing the importance of joint coordination and agreeing that the two bodies “would make every effort to enforce the law and maintain public order,” the IDF and Israel Police said. The chief of staff stressed that the attack was of a nationalistic nature and that such violent acts “are crimes that must be prevented, and if committed, must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz tweeted on Saturday evening in support of the Golani soldier who “acted as we expect that any soldier and commanding officer in the IDF should act.” “The IDF is committed to the security of civilians anywhere it operates,” he wrote. “I trust the IDF to investigate this incident in an orderly fashion.”

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Two more suspects arrested in beating of a Palestinian man in Hebron

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