IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz said “the [IDF's] documentary unit does not exist to incriminate IDF soldiers.”
Above: Settlers attacking AFP photographer Abbas Momani in Beit El, March 2014
IDF Refuses To Turn Over Incriminating Video Evidence To Military Police As Jewish Settlers Who Attacked Palestinian Photographer Reportedly Set To Be Indicted
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Jewish settlers from the West Bank town of Beit El will reportedly be indicted this week for attacking a Palestinian photographer as IDF soldiers allegedly stood by and did nothing to stop it, Ha’aretz reported.
The attack took place in March 7, 2014.
Video and photographs of the incident along with statements from Palestinians and IDF officers appear to show that a mob of six or seven settlers attacked Abbas Momani and a colleague as they sat in their car documenting what Ha’aretz describes as “the weekly confrontation between IDF soldiers and Palestinian youths throwing stones” near the Jalazun refugee camp. The settler mob ran toward the car, some with pistols drawn, and blocked the road. Rather than run them over, Momani stopped the car, which clearly had a “PRESS” sign on it.
At that point some of the settlers stoned the press car from short range, shattering the front windshield.
Momani filed a complaint with police but heard nothing for almost one year until the prosecution told him the case file had been “mislaid” by its office and police. Meanwhile, Military Police closed its probe of the incident even though multiple witnesses said IDF soldiers were at the scene when the attack took place and did nothing to stop it or to apprehend the settlers.
The attack was even documented by a soldier from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, but that unit refused a Military Police request to give Military Police that video footage and the soldier’s name and identifying information.
Military Police appealed the IDF Spokesperson’s refusal to turn over the information to the chief military prosecutor. The appeal was rejected.
No military disciplinary action was taken against the IDF Spokesperson or his office.
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz reportedly told Haaretz that “the documentary unit does not exist to incriminate IDF soldiers.”
In September 2015, Momani was photographing a funeral in the West Bank Palestinian village of Beit Furik when IDF soldiers were videoed attacking him and another photographer. Momani’s camera equipment was broken by the IDF soldiers, whose commander was later suspended from his post over the incident.