The IDF on Tuesday said it would discipline the soldiers who were recorded cheering in a video clip of a sniper shooting a Palestinian along the border.
The military said the video was not from the recent unrest and was taken on Dec. 22 of last year, when protesters allegedly tried to damage the border fence. The clip shows only a small portion of two hours of violent clashes that included rock-throwing and attempts to breach the border fence.
The video, apparently taken from a sniper position, appears to show a soldier shooting a Palestinian near the fence. Other soldiers are heard cursing the man and then cheering when he falls.
The military said the man was a main instigator in the clashes and was shot in the leg and wounded after ignoring warning shots and calls to halt.
The statement said the footage was not filmed by the IDF sharpshooter but by a soldier from a different unit.
It condemned the filming of the incident and the statements the soldiers made, saying the troops' behavior does not reflect the IDF's values and they would be dealt with "accordingly," without elaborating.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that the sniper "deserves a medal."
"The IDF is the most moral army in the world," Lieberman said.
Meanwhile, the watchdog group NGO Monitor has revealed that Palestinian journalist Yasser Murtaja, who was killed Friday during clashes along the Gaza border fence, was slated to begin working for the Norwegian Refugee Council organization, which wages a lawfare campaign against Israel.
Earlier Tuesday, security officials told the Walla News website that Murtaja had been identified as an active Hamas operative who had been a member of the terrorist group for years and held a rank equivalent to captain.
"He was a terrorist, with years in Hamas' military wing, who had been paid a salary [by Hamas] since 2011. I hope that the same journalists who lost their minds and talked about [him as] a poor journalist who was just doing his job report the facts correctly," Lieberman said.
