Content warning – this article contains embedded video clips that depict graphic settler colonial violence
Footage of an Israel raid in the occupied West Bank showed a soldier pushing an apparently dead Palestinian man off a rooftop.
AFPTV footage of the operation in the town of Qabatiyah, near Jenin, on Thursday showed an Israeli soldier using his foot to roll the body towards the edge of the roof and then pushing him over, while at least two other soldiers looked on. The Cradle shared the shocking footage:
In the first video, an invading Israeli soldier executes a young Palestinian at point-blank range on the roof of the house he was besieged in. In the second, soldiers throw his body off the roof in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/qdtgzubWmu
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 19, 2024
Qabatiyah is located in the northern West Bank, where the military has been carrying out large-scale raids since late August that the Palestinian health ministry says have left dozens dead.
Barbaric behaviour from Israel
Former Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth stated the obvious – there is no military need for Israel to throw someone off a roof:
Under international humanitarian law, soldiers are supposed to ensure the bodies of enemy combatants are treated decently. Yet Israeli soldiers threw the bodies of three Palestinian men from a roof “There is no military need to do this.” https://t.co/b1HJ0PZdyC
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 20, 2024
The Chief of Communications at Euro-Med Monitor, Muhammed Shehada, pointed out that the accusations Israelis make of Palestinians are often confessions of their own crimes:
"But… but Hamas threw people off rooftops" has been one of Israel's main talking points to justify slaughtering Gazans for decades.
Here, the IDF, in broad daylight, throwing a Palestinian off a rooftop after they shot him today.
You'll never hear MSM calling this barbaric! pic.twitter.com/v6bg76xJ0f
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) September 19, 2024
This same point was made by others:
‘Gazans will throw you off the roof’. Every single accusation – a confession. They will never stop telling on themselves, cursed people. Longing for the day Israel experiences everthing it has done to Palestine. https://t.co/dDohjoRjcg
— r i m a (@rma__ri) September 19, 2024
Journalist Laila Al-Arian said:
This horrifying video of Israeli soldiers throwing Palestinians off of a rooftop in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, should be breaking news. But it won’t due to anti-Palestinian media bias. https://t.co/BjAAAmY2oT
— Laila Al-Arian (@LailaAlarian) September 19, 2024
“Inhuman behaviour”
Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli soldiers had thrown three men off a building after having shot them. The men’s bodies were then removed with a military bulldozer.
Secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, told Al Jazeera that the footage showed:
absolutely savage and inhuman behaviour.
Barghouti showed that he was not sure if the men kicked off the rooftop “were still alive or not.”
Journalist Laila Warah, currently in Ramallah, said:
The footage we’ve seen is horrific and it’s making the rounds here in Palestine. But ultimately, Palestinians are not surprised. Israel has a track record of disrespecting the bodies of the Palestinians they kill.
Even in death, Palestinians are brutalised and subjected to disrespectful and demeaning treatment from Israelis. Undoubtedly, if an Israeli person being kicked off a rooftop, mainstream media would be spilling forth with emotional reporting decrying the inhumanity and savage behaviour. As it is, Israelis continue to brutalise Palestinians and much of the world barely spares them a glance.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Firstpost
