Twelve hours after Israeli settlers brutally attacked several Palestinians and established a new illegal outpost in their village, the Israeli military stepped in.
But instead of detaining settlers or dismantling the illegal outpost, the soldiers targeted the Palestinian residents of Tayasir and a CNN team covering the incursion.
“Stop! Sit down! Sit down!” one of the Israelis shouted, his rifle aimed directly at us and the Palestinians we were speaking with.
Seventy-three seconds later, one of the soldiers came up from behind CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos and put him in a chokehold, bringing him to the ground and damaging his camera.
Within minutes, we and several Palestinians in the area were detained by the soldiers.
The two hours we spent detained by them laid bare the settler ideology motivating many of the soldiers who operate in the occupied West Bank – and the ways in which soldiers frequently act in service of the settler movement. Their comments build on a large body of evidence documented by journalists, activists and Palestinians that show Israeli soldiers supporting or standing idly by as Israeli settlers attack Palestinians or encroach on their land.
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