Israeli minister: Palestinian women who saved injured boy from Israeli soldier should have been shot

The Israeli army should have shot a Palestinian family from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh who saved an injured child from being arrested during the village’s weekly demonstration against the illegal confiscation of their land, a minister said.

Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev said that the unarmed protesters should have been shot. Regev called on Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change the army’s policy on the use of live-fire because of the “humiliation” the soldier endured.

“We need to decide immediately that a soldier that is attacked is permitted to return fire. Period. I call on the minister of security to put an end to the humiliation and change the open fire regulations immediately!” Regev wrote in a Facebook statement.

“Anyone who tries to harm Israeli civilians and soldiers needs to know his blood is in his head,” Regev continued, using a Hebrew expression to convey that the Palestinians who assaulted the soldier are fair game for shooting.

On Friday an Israeli soldier tried to detain 12-year-old Mohammed Tamimi, leading to a fierce scuffle with his mother, sister and aunt. The incident was captured on video by Bilal Tamimi, a local Palestinian journalist.