Four soldiers from the IDF’s Nahal Haredi battalion were indicted yesterday for numerous instances of torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, and more indictments are expected Sunday.
Updated 3:00 pm CDT
4 Haredi Soldiers Indicted In Beating, Torture Of Palestinian Prisoners
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Four soldiers from the IDF’s Nahal Haredi battalion were indicted yesterday for numerous instances of torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, Ha’aretz reported.
In one incident, the haredi battalion soldiers allegedly used a cellphone to video themselves intentionally electrocuting a Palestinian prisoner.
Military Police found many other incidents of abuse and torture and are expected to file for indictments against more soldiers from the haredi battalion Sunday.
The electrocution incident allegedly happened this way:
• On the night of October 7, Nahal Haredi soldiers arrested a Palestinian and took him to their military base near Jenin in the West Bank.
• Soldier “A” and other soldiers from the haredi battalion beat the blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian. “A” kicked the Palestinian prisoner, stomped on his legs, and hit him on the head, filming with his cellphone as he did it.
• Other soldiers from the haredi battalion attached electrodes to the Palestinian’s neck and began to electrocute him. As the prisoner pleaded for them to stop, the soldiers increased the voltage.
• When questioned by Military Police, “A” claimed he tortured the blindfolded and handcuffed prisoner because of his “rage over the wave of terror attacks.”
In a second known incident a week later, a Palestinian resident of Jaba was allegedly severely beaten after arrest. In that incident:
• A soldier identified only as “D” allegedly kicked the Palestinian prisoner in the legs and head as other soldiers were taking the prisoner to the bathroom.
• “A” allegedly beat that prisoner while he was blindfolded and handcuffed.
• A few hours after that beating, “A” allegedly beat the prisoner for a second time without justification.
• Other soldiers from the haredi battalion allegedly beat the prisoner.
In a third incident, yet another Palestinian prisoner was beaten by a soldier, identified only as “S,” from the haredi battalion.
At this week’s court hearing, two of the seven soldiers who were detained in these incidents were released after been held for a week.
The four indicted soldiers were remanded until a court hearing Sunday. The and one other soldier from the haredi battalion are being defended by an attorney from the neo-Kahanist neo-facicst Honenu legal aid organization.
“We must remember that these are outstanding soldiers, without a criminal record, who certainly did not act violently or inappropriately toward Palestinian terrorists. If there was some breach of protocol, instead of issuing indictments – which are a legal step with serious ramifications – it would have been better to clear up the issue by having them stand disciplinary trial. That would have been more balanced,” the Honenu attorney representing the soldiers, Hay Haber, said.
Many Nahal Haredi soldiers are actually haredim who were kicked out of haredi yeshivas for failure to closely comply with expected study or behavior norms. Other Nahal Haredi soldiers are actually West Bank right-wing Zionist Orthodox settlers. Others are ba'al teshuvas or traditional Sefardim who went to Shas Party schools but whose families were not fully haredi. All, however come from some sort of Orthodox background.