Camera-smashing incident leads to officer's removal
Commander squad that smashed AFP photographer's camera removed from current duty, a decision with which some of his fellow soldiers take issue.
The Givati Brigade commander's recommendation to remove the officer from his current duty was accepted. His continued service in the Israeli Defense Forces will be examined further by the army. An IDF spokesperson said: "The squad leader behaved in a way that doesn't meet the expected standard for an IDF commander."
The IDF has conducted operational investigations of the incident, as well as one by Colonel Yaron Finkelman, commander of the Givati Brigade, in which he recommended the officer's removal from his current position.
The officer in question is an amateur singer, who once participated a popular singing reality TV show. His attorney, Idan Pesach, responded to Brig.-Gen. Ben-Moha's decision by saying: "A sacrifice has been laid on the altar of political and diplomatic interests. We will fight to prove his innocence and the righteousness of his ways. The IDF doesn't internalize the fact that this kind of decision will lead – and is already leading – many soldiers to refuse to act in combat situations, for fear that they might share the same fate as him."
After the decision was announced, soldiers in the officer's battalion informed their commander that they would not take part in future routine security operations. Meanwhile, some have begun protesting the soldier's removal. A Facebook page calling the officer an Israeli hero has bee created. A meeting of Givati Brigade company commanders was held Thursday morning, and a number of them have declared they would protest the decision as well.
On the day after the incident, an IDF spokesperson said that the officer "did not behave as is expected of him, and was thus suspended from duty. This is a serious event as far as values and commanderial conduct are concerned, and it will be investigated and its lessons implemented."
The camera-smashing incident occurred last Friday. IDF soldiers were filmed holding back two AFP photographers standing next to them, with one of the soldiers then lifting one of the photographers cameras and smashing in on the pavement. Afterwards, a soldier can be seen chasing one of the photographers, with another soldier throwing away a different piece of photography equipment, seemingly a tripod.
The two photographers involved were Andrea Bernardi, an Italian photographer working for the French agency, and Abbas Momani, AFP's photographer in the West Bank. "They passed the first border police checkpoint at the entrance to the village with no problems, after showing their press credentials," said Thomas Cooks, manager of AFP's Israel and Palestinian territory office, "When they stopped to adjust their equipment, a soldier came up to them and instructed them to stop filming. He later took the camera away and smashed it."
According to Cooks, additional equipment was taken, including batteries and memory cards, which were in the photographer's pockets.
