One kick: The Guardian’s 37 seconds in Hebron.

The original video of an incident in Hebron involving an Israeli Border Policeman and a Palestinian youth, posted on YouTube by B’Tselem on June 29, lasts 2 minutes.

The video, shot through a gap in a building overlooking the Hebron street where the policeman was patrolling, hovers over the same small area for 1 minute and 16 seconds before the incident took place.

The videographer was lying in wait.

At the 1:16 mark, we see a Palestinian child walk by at the same location. A couple of seconds later the policeman (who was evidently a few meters away) rushes to the scene and grabs the Palestinian in a manner suggesting that the child was apprehended following an incident, the details of which we weren’t privy to.

At the 1:34 mark, another policeman approaches and gives the Palestinian a swift, mild kick. The child is then released, and is seen rushing off.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTzB1N_EZXU&feature=player_embedded]

On July 3, the Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood published a story about the incident, titled “Caught on video: Israeli policeman kicking Palestinian boy“. However, Sherwood’s video is edited so that the viewer only sees 37 seconds of the 2 minute tape. It begins at the point where the boy enters the scene.    

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKsrgRPsVv0&feature=youtu.be]

Sherwood noted that such Israelis are patrolling Hebron to protect “hardline settlers”.  She contextualized the kick by citing a “report published last week by a group of eminent British lawyers [funded by the UK Foreign Office] that concluded Israel had breached international law in its treatment of Palestinian children in military custody.”

Oh, and I almost neglected to note that the Israeli Border Police have opened an investigation into the incident and will publish their findings soon.

On August 31, 2010, four Israelis, including a married couple, were murdered in their vehicle in a Hamas terrorist drive-by shooting attack on Route 60 east of Hebron. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Ynet the attack was proof that “the Palestinian resistance is living, breathing, and kicking“. [emphasis added]

Harriet Sherwood’s report on the Hamas terrorist attack focused almost entirely on fear that the “incident…could jeopardise vital peace talks”.

There was no video of the attack which claimed the lives of Yitzhak Ames, Talya Ames, Avishai Shindler, and Kochava Chaim.

However, the following photo of Palestinians celebrating the successful “operation” near Hebron was posted around the web.

As far as I can determine, there has been no report funded by the UK Foreign Office on such terror attacks as violations of international human rights law. 

Oh, and I almost neglected to note that there was no Palestinian investigation into the murder of four Jews near Hebron.

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