Israel Defense Forces soldiers trying to catch stone-throwing Palestinians were videotaped handcuffing and blindfolding an 11-year-old boy who, due to mental disabilities, could not speak.
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The Israeli human rights watchdog B’Tselem published footage of the incident on Monday, a day after it was recorded in the Jabel Johar neighborhood of Hebron.
Soldiers grabbed the boy during an attempt to apprehend Palestinians who had been throwing rocks at vehicles on a main road outside the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba.
The boy, identified only as A. a-Rajbi to protect his identity, is not yet 12 years of age, putting him below the age of legal culpability, B’Tselem said.
It was not clear from the video if the soldiers were aware how young the boy was, or that he had mental disabilities.
In the footage, which was shot by a B’Tselem volunteer from an overlooking window, the soldiers can be seen roughly restraining a-Rajbi and then blindfolding him before helping him into the back of an army jeep.
He was released shortly afterward when his father told the soldiers about his condition.
The IDF said that an initial investigation found the army unit had been scrambled to catch two people who were throwing rocks in Hebron and caught them in the act.
One, an adult, who was out on parole, was jailed after being caught; and the second, the boy seen in the video, was released minutes later. The IDF added that the incident was being looked into.