This video is filmed from the perspective of Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinian youths protesting the occupation.
Soldiers can be heard making lighthearted comments and congratulating each other as they shoot to maim young Palestinians.
At first, the camera focuses on a young Palestinian, apparently holding a sling used to launch rocks towards occupation soldiers (though not apparently in the direction of the camera).
“What about him, doesn’t he want to stand?” a soldier says in Hebrew.
“Standing … standing,” the soldier says, then the crack of a gun is heard and the youth falls to the ground.
“He took it!” a soldier says triumphantly, and adds “He took it in the ass!”
“Well done,” another voice is heard saying. As the soldiers praise each other, Palestinians rush to evacuate the injured youth to safety.
Moments later, the soldiers can be heard discussing targeting another Palestinian youth. “Be ready, on him,” a soldier, apparently in command, says.
He then gives the order to shoot. “He fell. Well done!” he exclaims after the gunshot rings out.
“What a hit!” “Beautiful!” soldiers say.
The video shows at least half a dozen Palestinians being methodically targeted in this manner before the camera briefly pans and captures the faces of two of the Israeli assailants.
One of the Israelis whose face is captured stretches out his hand to cover the camera lens.
The video reveals that the Israeli gunmen are in an armored vehicle or jeep and are in no conceivable danger from the Palestinians they are shooting.
According to the Ma’an News Agency, the footage was released on Facebook last week by Palestinian activists who say it was recovered from a camera dropped by one of the soldiers.
The copy of the video above was subtitled by Ronnie Barkan.
Lethal weapons
Similar videos published by Israeli soldiers themselves have shown soldiers expressing sadistic joy as they shoot Palestinians.
Last year, Israel expanded its permission to occupation soldiers to use lethal .22-caliber sniper guns against Palestinian demonstrators.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem noted in September that from the start of 2015 three Palestinians had been killed by .22-caliber bullets “during stone-throwing incidents in which members of the security forces were not in mortal danger.”
Israel’s policy of shooting Palestinians with live ammunition in order to suppress anti-occupation protests frequently causes devastating and lifelong injuries even when it does not kill.
Restrictions on the use of live fire to “mortal danger” situations exist only on paper.
“Experience gained through monitoring [.22] use in the West Bank shows that the restrictions placed on using this type of ammunition get eroded over time, and the result is a constant expansion of the [.22] use,” B’Tselem says.
As this video demonstrates, live fire amounts to an enjoyable blood sport for the Israelis charged with enforcing the occupation.
