IDF International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht publicly addressed on his Twitter account the foreign media and Palestinian Arab activist Issa Amro, who was filmed being assaulted by an IDF soldier in Hebron earlier this month.
“Issa Amro, since Monday I”ve tried to reach out , to dialogue and apologize,such as we did successfully with Lawrence Wright. Sadly you are too busy to respond. The Soldier is in Jail. No one wants a escalation. Cynical methods,” Col. Hecht wrote.
The IDF spokesperson also sent a personal message to Amro which reads: “Hello, Issa – Lt Col Richard from the IDF. I’m the international spokesman – would really appreciate it if you can have a chat with me.”
Col. Hecht included his phone number in the message and asked: “When do you think it would be possible to chat sir.”
About two weeks ago, a soldier was filmed knocking Amro to the ground and kicking him. Amro is known as a provocateur who gets in the faces of soldiers, screaming and cursing at them. A witness to the incident stated that Amro had assaulted the soldier first before the soldier responded.
Yair Avrahami, a yeshiva student who was present at the incident, said following the incident: “The Arab attacked the soldier and hit him in the ribs. Earlier, the activist, who is known in Hebron as someone who harasses soldiers and settlers, harassed the soldier who kept him away from the area he was not allowed to approach. The Arab hit the soldier in the ribs, and only then did the soldier react.”
The soldier was suspended from duty and sent to military prison for 10 days.
The Torat Lechima organization condemned the IDF spokesperson for reaching out to Amro to apologize.
“We see it but we don’t believe it. This is shocking obsequiousness before a terrorist supporter. The IDF Spokesperson long ago became a branch of Meretz and Balad. Now it courts an anarchist who harasses soldiers, while the soldier was disgracefully thrown in prison after defending himself from the violence of this anarchist, who is known throughout Hebron.
“We call on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to come to his senses, to stop the disgrace of the field trials against the soldiers, to order the commander of the Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs, to support the soldiers and keep these anarchists away from them, and to show the public the full video, and not the cut and trending one distributed by the extreme and Israel-hating left-wing organizations. The people elected the right-wing, and and Gallant’s duty is to conduct a cleanup operation of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, which humiliates the soldiers, the IDF, and the State of Israel before the foreign ministers and the terrorists and their supporters,” the organization added.
