A local rights watchdog on Tuesday called for Israel to be prosecuted in an international court following the appearance of footage that appears to show Israeli troops using police dogs to terrorize a Palestinian child.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported that former lawmaker Michael Ben Ari had shared the video along with the tweet: "The soldiers taught the little terrorist a lesson!"
Ben Ari urged his followers on Twitter to share the video so that "every little terrorist who plans to harm our soldiers learns the price."
"In the wake of two new UNICEF reports on the torture of Palestinian children in the prisons of the [Israeli] occupation, this latest video once again shows the occupation's true, sadistic face," Fouad al-Khafash, director of the Ahrar Center for Human Rights Studies, a Palestinian NGO, said Tuesday.
"The Palestinian ministries of justice and foreign affairs should raise lawsuits against Israel before international courts," he said.
"The army of the occupation lacks all morality and values," al-Khafash added. "The troops [shown in the video] were clearly enjoying torturing the boy."
On Monday, Palestinian activists posted a video online of Israeli soldiers using police dogs to terrorize 16-year-old Hazem Abu Hashem while arresting him near the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron).
The incident reportedly took place near the Jewish-only Karmei Zur settlement bloc, where Abu Hashem was arrested during a confrontation between Israeli troops and stone-throwing Palestinian protesters.
After the video went viral online, Israeli media reported that Israel's chief military prosecutor had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. International law considers both regions occupied territories and views the construction of Jewish-only settlements on the land as illegal.
Another video published on December 29 by the The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem) shows 16-year-old Hashem is being taken away Israeli troops with dogs. An Isreali civilian is also shown in the video holding an automatic rifle.
