Hebron /PNN/
Israeli occupation forces unleashed a military dog to attack a Palestinian man during a brutal overnight arrest, despite the man holding his hands up, newly-released footage reveals.
The footage, made public on Wednesday, relates to an incident that reportedly took place on Monday near the city of Ramallah, condemned widely as a “barbaric act.”
It shows 19-year-old Malik Maala holding his hands behind his head while awaiting arrest by the Israeli troops at his workplace in the occupied West Bank city of al-Bireh.
Quite shockingly, as the teenager prepares to be handcuffed, a military dog released by Israeli soldiers standing nearby pounces on him.
The footage shows Israeli military forces approaching the university student moments after he is attacked by the dog, detaining him and taking him to an undisclosed location.
The Palestinian Authority's prisoners’ commission, reacting to the incident, termed it "distressful and cruel" and a "barbaric act."
"It is another proof that clarifies the ongoing methods of the occupation aiming at breaking the will of our people to build a successful and stable future," the agency said on Thursday.
It blasted the silence of international human rights watchdogs for their failure in “defending the minimum rights of our people in building their future and obtaining freedom."
The commission also noted that Maala was arrested while working as a guard at an industrial facility in al-Bireh to raise money for his university tuition fees.
Israeli regime news outlets tried to justify the vicious cruelty by insisting that the measure was intended to “frighten” the Palestinian youth and that the dog was held back to prevent harm to the teenager.
The report and the Palestinian agency did not cite reasons for Maala’s brutal arrest.
The development coincided with media reports that the Israeli regime has refused to cooperate with a United Nations team probing the crimes it committed during a full-scale war on the besieged Palestinian enclave, Gaza Strip, last year.
Israel's ambassador to the UN and international organizations in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, announced the refusal in a letter she personally delivered to Navi Pillay, the head of the Commission of Inquiry that has been established by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
"There is simply no reason to believe that Israel will receive reasonable, equitable, and non-discriminatory treatment from the Council, or from this Commission of Inquiry [COI]," Shahar claimed.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1493997701427793920"This COI is sure to be yet another sorry chapter in the efforts to demonize” Israel, added.
The Israeli regime launched fresh aggression last May after Palestinians in the Gaza Strip rose up in protests in solidarity with their fellow countrymen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who were facing a significantly ferocious crackdown by Israel.
The brutal aggression killed at least 248 Palestinians, including more than 60 children, and injured upwards of 1,200 others.