Lt.-Col Shalom Eisner, the IDF officer who was suspended from duty after he was filmed striking a foreign peace activist from Denmark with his M-16 rifle during a Jordan Valley protest in April 2012, has reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors, Ynet learned on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, Eisner will receive two months of community service without pay. He will not be discharged from the IDF, but he will not be promoted to a new position and will retire from the army early.
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In the next few days an indictment will be filed with a military court charging Eisner of conduct unbecoming and overstepping his authority to the point of endangering lives.
The incident
Eisner's appointment as head of the Bahad 1 officer's school was cancelled due to the incident. Since then he was appointed to a senior position at the Zeelim army base.
The indictment states that in 2012 Eisner used his hands and rifle to attack five foreign activists and Palestinians who took part in a pro-Palestinian bike ride that was not authorized by the IDF. During his interrogation, the officer said he felt the pro-Palestinian activists were endangering his life and the lives of his soldiers, who were securing a public road at the time of the incident.
The Danish activist who was struck by Eisner's rifle in the face was evacuated to a hospital for treatment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that "this kind of behavior does not characterize the soldiers and commanders of the IDF. It has no place in the army or the State of Israel."
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