Video| They forced them to say “cheese”… Israeli soldiers awoke, illegally recorded Palestinian kids
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces soldiers pulled Palestinian children out of their beds in the middle of the night and illegally photographed them in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in September, a B’Tselem video shows.
During a night raid in the area of Hebron, Israeli soldiers entered the home of the Dana family, forcing the parents to wake up and gather their children.
The soldiers were filmed by an activist of the B’Tselem organization.
According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the incident took place in September.
In the video, the parents are seen calming their children and obeying all the soldiers’ orders.
The 13 minors, all of whom were in kindergarten and early years of elementary school, were forced to stand outside in a line.
Several of the children were trembling and crying.
The soldiers ordered the children to “say cheese.”
Though the parents protested, the soldiers once again ordered the children to do so, and they obeyed.
Before photographing the minors, an Israeli officer is heard in the B’Tselem footage claiming the children were being recorded because of a stone throwing incident, though he gave no details of which child was suspected of doing so, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli Occupation Forces said that the officer’s conduct was “improper,” including his “comment at the incident.”
“The officer was reprimanded over his conduct, and procedures will be sharpened among the forces to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents,” the IOF said.
The IOF also brought up a stone throwing incident, claiming the officer’s actions were intended to help identify Palestinian suspects who threw stones toward illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba which is on the outskirts of Hebron.
It is illegal for Israeli soldiers to photograph minors.
The human rights group of B’Tselem said that the footage illustrates “how arbitrarily the routine of the lives of Palestinians living under occupation is disrupted, and how easily soldiers violate their rights.”
“It seems that for the army, all Palestinians, including boys and girls of elementary school age, are potential criminals – they are allowed to wake them up at any time at night, enter their house and conduct a line-up.”
Watch | Israeli soldiers pulled Palestinian children out of their beds in the middle of the night and photographed them illegally in the West Bank city of Hebron, a B'Tselem video shows. pic.twitter.com/dnubiz7vuA
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 17, 2021
