In Hebron, Even a Documented Theft by Israelis Becomes Too Much to Investigate -
Two stubborn men forced the reopening of an investigation, two and a half years after a complaint was filed against an IDF officer who allegedly stole security cameras from a house in the Old City of Hebron.
Refusing to investigate the theft of property worth 4,500 shekels (around 1000$ at that time) may seem too minor for a news report, especially when the same authorities that enforce order and military law allow kosher-abiding Jews to carry out daily pogroms in the West Bank.
To that, I would say: the darker side of the reasonable yet incomplete coverage of those pogroms is the disregard for the cruelty of daily routine. The story of how this file was closed and then reopened, following an appeal, is journalistically important because it exposes the institutional abuse of Palestinians – abuse steeped in lies.
An officer, two soldiers and Anat Cohen, a Hebron settler, entered an olive grove below the home of Issa Amro – stubborn man No. 1 – on November 6, 2023. The officer filmed the house, located in Tel Rumeida. Amro filmed him filming.
The officer then entered the yard, allegedly removed a GoPro body camera mounted above the door and slipped it into his pocket. He also allegedly tore down three other security cameras using a rake.
For some 20 years, Amro has organized a range of civilian initiatives aimed at preventing the depopulation of Hebron's Old City, where residents face army-imposed movement restrictions and settler harassment. His persistence and defiance have long made him a thorn in the side of settlers, the army, the military prosecution and the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus. Anat Cohen is known for repeated confrontations with Palestinians, including Amro.
That same day, Amro filed a complaint at the Kiryat Arba police station regarding the removal of the cameras, providing videos as evidence. It was not simple: a curfew had been imposed on Palestinians in Hebron's Old City, but Amro found a way to reach the station and return home.
He also complained that the IDF officer threatened first to arrest him and then to kill him. At the request of the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, Amro also sent them the videos.
That same day, the officer was summoned by police. He said he had been serving as a reserve company commander in the Jewish settlement in Hebron since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, and that he had been patrolling with newly arrived soldiers to familiarize them with the area. He said he had asked Anat Cohen to show them "who lives where in the mixed houses" – some inhabited by Palestinians, others by settlers. The photos he took, he said, were for a sector file.
When asked directly whether he had taken Amro's body camera, he replied: "I didn't take anything. He took pictures of me with his phone."
Amro recognized the officer from an earlier incident. On October 18, 2023, an officer from the Civil Administration and a lieutenant colonel tried to persuade him to leave his home for the duration of the war. Two days later, they were part of a force that coerced him to leave "until the end of the war," punishment for hosting an Australian journalist and an Israeli political activist.
A petition to the High Court of Justice, filed by attorney Michael Sfard, forced the army to allow Amro's return after soldiers had occupied his yard around the clock for nearly three weeks, and spent about a week inside the house. The security cameras documented the soldiers, including the officer now in question.
Amro had slept only one night in his home when fate brought the officer back to the yard – and to the cameras.
About 18 months later, after still not getting them back, Amro turned to persistent man No. 2: attorney Eitay Mack, who insists on demanding accountability even for so-called "minor" routine abuses. He also represents the Tag Meir Forum, which fights hate crimes.
Mack filed a compensation claim with the Ministry of Defense equal to the value of the cameras. He also asked the military prosecution what had become of the investigation.
In late 2025, the Ministry of Defense rejected the claim, stating that "the cameras were not confiscated and/or taken by the military force." Mack then learned from the military prosecution that the Military Police had returned the case to the police because the officer who committed "the alleged offense" had not been acting as part of a military mission – meaning, in effect, that he had lied to police.
The police, for their part, had contended themselves with Amro's complaint and the officer's statement, then closed the case for "lack of criminal offense."
In short: the police determined no criminal offense had occurred; the Ministry of Defense did not deny that a military force was present, but disavowed responsibility for the theft; and the military prosecution determined that although the man who removed the cameras was in uniform, he had not acted in the line of duty.
Alongside an appeal to the police – which was accepted – Mack sent an objection to the military prosecution over the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division's failure to investigate the incident. He also demanded the dismissal of the officer for making a false statement.
The response he received was that the officer was no longer a soldier, and therefore the civilian legal system should handle the matter. This month, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit repeated the claim that the officer had not been acting in a military capacity.
Mack describes Israeli civilians involved in the "policing" of the Palestinian population as shape-shifting entities, whose numbers have grown since the war: at times they appear in uniform and carrying military weapons; at times without uniforms; and at times armed but otherwise civilian in appearance.
"This is not some case of extraordinary sloppiness," Mack says. "For the government, the army and the police, the existence of these shape-shifting entities is convenient, because they fall between the cracks. That allows every authority to evade the duty to investigate their conduct, prosecute suspected criminal offenses, or simply pass responsibility from one body to another."