Two IDF Soldiers Arrested For Brutal Attack On Druze Soldier

The Druze soldier who was beaten by two Israeli soldiers. Image by Facebook

By JTA December 18, 2017

The Druze soldier who was beaten by two Israeli soldiers. Image by Facebook

(JTA) — Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were arrested Sunday night in connection with an on-base attack against a Druze soldier.

The soldier, who said he was attacked and beaten by fellow soldiers on his base in northern Israel, was taken to the hospital with a broken nose, and cuts on his head and face. He also was kicked and punched all over his body until he lost consciousness. He reportedly was beaten after refusing to leave his dorm room immediately when called to do so.

The soldier’s family posted photos on social media to show how severely injured the soldier was. One of the photos shows his bloodied face. Another shows him lying unconscious on the ground. A third shows his blood-spattered uniform.

“The photo you see here was not taken at the scene of a terrorist attack, not in (Jerusalem’s) Damascus Gate and not in a kasbah (old city) in the territories. The soldier depicted in the photo was savagely attacked in his base by two soldiers—two criminals in uniform,” the family wrote in a post on Facebook, according to Ynet.

The base commander reportedly refused to immediately take the beaten soldier for medical care, waiting four hours before sending him to an emergency room. The soldier was ordered sent home for five days of rest, and said he was beaten again after returning to the base from the hospital before travelling home. The second attack necessitated another trip to the hospital, according to Ynet.

The assaulted soldier’s grandfather, Sa’id Hussein, in an interview with Ynet said of the attack: “To beat a soldier in the IDF until he loses consciousness requires an investigation. This is not the army I served in thirty years ago. I didn’t send my grandson to the army for this kind of thing.”

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