Israeli soldier rescues Palestinian man under attack by Jewish mob

Mask-clad Israeli security forces stand guard overlooking a section of Road 60 in “area C” (under Israeli security and administrative control) as Palestinian youth walk past them, near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on June 14, 2020. Image by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli soldier rescued a Palestinian resident of Hebron from a mob of Jewish settlers and was attacked by the mob himself.
By Monday morning, four people had been arrested in the attack, including a minor and two teens.
The soldier from the Golani Brigade stationed at a military post in Hebron on Friday night witnessed the gang harassing the Palestinian man and then physically attacking him. The soldier then pulled the man from the mob and fought them off as they attempted to exit the scene. The mob began physically attacking the soldier, dispersing when more soldiers arrived at the scene.
The incident was captured on video.
Police on Sunday questioned several of the Jewish youths seen in the video of the attack. Reports in the Israeli media have identified the alleged attackers as residents of Hebron and also as visiting yeshiva students.
The Palestinian man told Ynet that he was talking on his cellphone when he was attacked by the mob. But an attorney who represents one of the suspects said the Palestinian is “not as innocent” as he appears to be and charged that he had hit the youths earlier in the evening.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz praised the soldier’s actions in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The Golani soldier who protected a Palestinian resident in Hebron acted as every soldier and commander in the IDF should in this situation,” Gantz tweeted. “The IDF is committed to the safety of civilians wherever it operates, and I trust the IDF commanding officers to investigate the incident in an orderly manner.”
The post Israeli soldier rescues Palestinian man under attack by Jewish mob in Hebron appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read but not free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO