IDF Defends ‘Arrest’ of Arab 5-Year-Old

IDF: 5-year-old attacker’s detention was for his own safety; he will not face charges.

Recently the IDF was widely condemned after left-wing Israeli groups publicized a video clip showing Israeli soldiers allegedly arresting a sobbing Arab child in the city of Hevron. The child was taken into custody after hurling rocks at Israelis who were driving past.

Now IDF legal experts have spoken out to explain why the child was detained – and why the detention was for his own good.

IDF Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria, Col. Doron Ben Barak, explained that the detention was a legitimate way to “remove danger,” both to the child and to innocent Israel civilians.

“Not infrequently, IDF soldiers and security forces personnel encounter children under the age of 12 who are throwing rocks at civilians, at cars and at security forces, and participating in riots, all this without parental supervision,” he stated.

“Let us recall that these incidents pose a significant risk to passersby and to security forces, and are likely to endanger the child himself, who is without an adult caretaker,” he added.

A youth under age 12 cannot be held responsible for his or her crimes under Israeli law, Ben-Barak noted, and the child in question was not arrested, and will not be arrested or put on trial. “However, that does not mean that IDF soldiers lack the authority to deal with incidents in which a minor child is endangering both the public and himself,” he said.

“Security forces are authorized to take action to remove the risk that the child’s actions pose to himself and others, with one option being removing him from the area and accompanying him to his parents or to the Palestinian Authority officials who, under interim agreements, are responsible for social welfare,” he explained.

The child’s parents or guardians, or PA welfare officials, are then free to take whatever action they see fit, he said.

The IDF made one mistake in the incident in question, he noted, and that was arresting the young boy’s father “without there being a suspicion that justified those steps.” However, the detention of the child was the moral thing to do, he insisted.

“When IDF soldiers see a child doing  a dangerous activity such as throwing rocks at passing cars, it would be irresponsible of them to ignore him and leave him alone, when he would continue his dangerous actions,” Ben-Barak declared.

Hundreds of PA children(read below) and teenagers have died since 2000 while taking part in terrorist activity. In one case, a PA teen who attempted to stone Israeli cars was killed by his own rock.(read below)
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Study: 292 Arab Children Killed in Terrorist Role
Almost 300 children have died as terrorists in the past eight years, study finds. Fatah claims most casualties.

First Publish: 11/26/2008, 10:59 PM

Almost 300 children have been killed while taking part in terrorist attacks over the past eight years, a new study conducted by Palestinian Authority researcher Mahdi Jaradat has revealed. A total of 3,973 PA Arabs died in the past eight years while committing acts of terrorism, he found.

Fatah had the most fatalities, with a total of 1,437 terrorists, 128 of them children, killed since September 28, 2000. Hamas was in second place with 1,410 killed in the same time period, 96 of them minors. Fifty-three children were killed while taking part in Islamic Jihad operations, five were killed as members of the PFLP, four died with the DFLP, and three with PRC.

Women, too
Women were increasingly numbered among terrorists as well. A total of 95 women were killed while carrying out attacks, Jaradat found. Thirty-four women were killed working with Hamas, and 30 with Fatah. Islamic Jihad, which had a much lower casualty rate than Hamas and Fatah overall, counted 24 women among its casualties.

Hamas carried out more suicide bombings than any other group over the past eight years, with a total of 72. Islamic Jihad was next with 48 suicide bombings, and Fatah was third with 42. Each of the three groups used women as suicide bombers, a move that was initially controversial due to traditional Muslim views that saw warfare as out of bounds for women.

According to the IDF, 29 suicide bombers were PA youths under the age of 18. Several youths as young as 14 and 15 have been caught attempting to approach checkpoints with bombs. One such would-be bomber told soldiers that terrorists offered him NIS 100 to transport explosives; another said terrorists had threatened him and told him they would accuse him of providing information to Israeli security forces—a capital offense in PA-controlled areas—if he did not do as they said. A third youth arrested while wearing a bomb belt was mentally disabled. He was safely disarmed.

Incitement
Israeli and American researchers have warned that many PA youths are encouraged to die as terrorists. While more blatant incitement to murder and death as a terrorist can be found in media outlets such as Hamas' TV station for children, another common source of incitement and hate is PA textbooks, which often leave Israel off of Middle East maps and hail slain terrorists as “martyrs.”

Respect for child suicide attackers can be found within the PA parliament as well: Legislator Maryam Farhat, more commonly known as Umm Nidal, sent three of her sons to commit suicide attacks. One was only 17 when he took part in a suicide attack in the town of Atzmona in which five Israeli teens were murdered.
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Eye for an Eye: Arab Attacker Killed by his Own Rock


A Palestinian Authority Arab who stoned cars in Samaria was killed by one of his own rocks, police have concluded.

First Publish: 1/17/2009

A Palestinian Authority Arab who stoned cars in Samaria was killed by one of his own rocks, police have concluded. A Jewish man held in connection with the death has been released.

The Arab teenager hurled heavy stones at Israeli-owned vehicles along a Samaria highway last Tuesday evening. He managed to hit one car, which was driven by a resident of the nearby town of Emmanuel.

Fearing further attacks, the driver fired a single shot in the air to frighten away the stone-thrower. He then contacted local security officers to report both the attack and his own response.

A short time later, Israeli paramedics received a report of an Arab teen found unconscious and badly wounded next to a highway. The teen suffered a serious head injury that appeared to be a bullet wound. Medical personnel rushed to the scene but were unable to save the young Arab, who died a short time later.

Police originally believed that the resident of Emmanuel who reported firing in the air had in fact fired at his attacker, killing him. The man was arrested and questioned. However, an initial forensic report showed that the attacker had not been killed by a bullet, and the detainee was released.

A final forensic report, released over the weekend, showed that the attacker was killed when a stone he threw hit the car driven by the man from Emmanuel. The stone hit the car's tire and bounced back at high speed, hitting the attacker and leaving him with a fatal head injury.

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