Report: Israeli soldier threatened to rape mother of detained boy

Bethlehem - Ma'an - "Shut up or I will FUCK you," a Christian Peacemaker Team observer quoted an Israeli soldier yelling at the mother of a boy bound in military custody near Hebron on Monday.

CPT observers near the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron detailed an attack on an unarmed 16-year-old boy that also saw his mother threatened and death threats launched at his father, who attempted to file a police report against the actions. The boy volunteers for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem as a cameraman and has undertaken nonviolence training.

"At 4:30pm on Monday 13 July two Israeli soldiers attacked a 16-year-old Palestinian boy 150 yards from his home," the CPT report said. "The attack happened as the boy was walking to his home carrying heavy electrical cables necessary for repair work on his family’s house. Two workers who were with him left to raise the alarm."

According to CPT the boy had been harassed several times by Israeli soldiers. When his mother and cousin arrived on the scene to defend the boy, soldiers threatened his mother with sexual acts. They were convinced to take the boy to his home, and were met there by a small group of settlers, who live illegally in the West Bank city.

"The soldiers cuffed the boy’s hands behind his back, blindfolded him and again forced him to sit" behind the house where settlers were glaring down from adjacent rooftops, the report said. "One or more people kicked and hit him again, but because of the blindfold he could not see whether his attackers were soldiers or settlers."

The boy's father and friends arrived at the home, having been alerted by his mother, and began filming the incident. "The officer observed that Palestinians were filming the incident and removed the blindfold and handcuffs and released the boy. He gripped the boy by the jaw and warned him, ‘If you say anything to internationals or the police, I will kill you,'" the report said.

That evening the boy received hospital treatment for his injuries, and the following day his father spent four and a half hours at the police station making a complaint, in support of which he passed over video of the incident, CPT said.