Israel imprisons soldier who attacked Palestinian while speaking to US media

 Despite giving a version of the occurrence that was contradicted by the interviewer, an Israeli soldier who attacked a Palestinian protester while he was chatting to a US journalist was sentenced to 10 days on Monday.

The event in Hebron also caused a stir within Israel, as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the several hundred ultra-orthodox Jews who live in the sensitive West Bank city, expressed his unwavering support for the soldier.

Issa Amro is thrown to the ground by the soldier in a video that Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker magazine released on Twitter. He then kicks Amro in the behind before being dragged away by a different soldier.

Until today, when an Israeli soldier interrupted his interview and assaulted a source in front of Wright, Wright had never experienced such an incident.

According to the IDF, the incident started when a soldier manning a military post instructed a Palestinian who was approaching the checkpoint to move aside.

"In response, the Palestinian started to curse at the soldier while recording. Following a verbal altercation, there was a brief physical altercation, during which the soldier struck the Palestinian, according to the statement.

The soldier did not behave as was expected of him and did not uphold the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) code of conduct, as the video demonstrates.

Wright, though, retorted on Twitter, saying: "The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) distorted what caused this. Amro requested the soldier to call his commander but did not curse him when they first met. There was no justification for the subsequent violent attack.

The military chose not to provide more commentary.

Ben-Gvir referred to Amro as an anarchist and dubbed the soldier's sentence, which included a suspension from active combat duty, a "disgrace."

"I firmly stand behind the soldier who spoke up. "Soldiers should be supported, not imprisoned," Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.

Amro, a peace campaigner according to Wright, claimed the minister was trying to have him killed.