Israeli forces threatening Palestinians with slaughter over loudspeaker.
Yazan Ikhlayel, 17, was at a community centre in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem when Israeli forces stormed the camp. Ikhlayel was using his iPhone to film as Israeli jeeps rolled by on one of the camp’s main roads, shooting off tear gas, when a soldier began issuing a message to residents from one of the jeep’s loudspeakers.
“People of Aida refugee camp, we are the occupation army,” the message began.
“If you throw stones, we will hit you with gas until you all die - the youth, the children, the old people, you will all die.”
The soldier continued, speaking in Arabic and issuing more threats and insults to the people of Aida camp. But Ikhlayel says it was the first line that really shocked people.
“The most important thing I want people to see when they watch this video is to realise what the Israeli ‘democracy’ really is,” Ikhlayel told Middle East Eye.
“They have said it for us now, they are an occupation - they said ‘we are the occupation army’. It is proof, this is an apartheid country, it is not democratic at all.”
“This is the first time I heard them say something like that over a speaker for everyone to hear,” Ikhlayel continued.
“The young people aren’t accepting what the soldiers are doing particularly now. They’re going to the streets [to protest] everyday, and they aren’t stopping. They aren’t scared of them.”
When asked if he thinks the soldier’s message would scare the youth enough to stop the protests, Ikhlayel shook his head adamantly.
“This will not stop until the occupation ends,” he insisted.
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