‘A police lynching’ – IDF reservist recalls his abduction by Palestinian police as outrage grows

Shlomo Rosenthal was illegally stopped by Palestinian Authority police operating an unauthorized roadblock in Israeli-controlled territory who attacked him with pepper spray, stole his army-issued weapon, beat him, and held him in custody in Ramallah.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

An Israeli army reservist has accused Palestinian Authority police officers of severely beating him, seizing his weapon and illegally detaining him in Ramallah after stopping him on a road in an Israeli-controlled area of Samaria, disputing an earlier account from Israeli security officials that portrayed the Palestinian officers as intervening to protect him from a crowd.

Shlomo Rosenthal described the Sunday night incident in an interview with Channel 14‘s “The Patriots” on Tuesday, saying he had been driving toward Jerusalem along a road near Beitunia when a Palestinian police vehicle blocked his path.

Rosenthal, a member of a local emergency response squad who was carrying an army-issued firearm, said he initially encountered what he thought might be an Israeli police checkpoint. After realizing the officers were Palestinian, he said he was surrounded by armed police who ordered him out of his vehicle.

According to Rosenthal, approximately 30 Palestinian officers eventually gathered around him, with their weapons pointed in his direction. He said he refused to surrender his firearm and tried to continue driving before an officer reached into the vehicle and switched it off.

The confrontation then became violent, Rosenthal said.

“They jumped on me, sprayed me with pepper spray and kicked me in the face,” he told Channel 14, saying his glasses were broken during the beating. Rosenthal said the officers took his gun, phone and car keys before dragging him from the vehicle and continuing to strike him.

He said he was then handcuffed, placed inside a Palestinian police vehicle and driven in the direction of Ramallah. Rosenthal told i24NEWS in a separate interview that he considered what happened an abduction rather than a rescue.

“I wasn’t rescued. I was beaten and kidnapped to Ramallah,” he said.

Rosenthal said the Palestinian officers eventually contacted the Israeli District Coordination and Liaison office and arranged to transfer him to Israeli forces. He estimated that the entire episode lasted about an hour and a half. His weapon was ultimately returned during the handover, before being taken again by Israeli police when he was brought to the Modiin Illit station, according to i24NEWS.

His account directly challenges the initial explanation of the incident provided by Israeli security officials.

The Civil Administration initially reported that Rosenthal had been rescued after entering Area A near the Palestinian village of Ein Arik, grouping his case together with two other incidents in which Israelis entered Palestinian-controlled areas in Jericho and Bethlehem.

Officials later acknowledged that account was incorrect and clarified that Rosenthal had actually been in Area C.

“Incorrect information was included” in the initial notice because of a reporting error, the Civil Administration said, adding that the incident was being investigated.

Security officials subsequently claimed that a Palestinian security force positioned nearby in Area A had seen a group of Palestinians gathering around Rosenthal and believed he was in immediate danger. According to that version, the Palestinian officers moved to the location while simultaneously contacting Israeli security forces to coordinate his transfer.

Rosenthal flatly rejected those claims Tuesday.

“There were no civilians there at all,” he told Channel 14, insisting that the people surrounding and attacking him were Palestinian police officers rather than a Palestinian mob. “The whole lynching was by Palestinian police officers.”

The location of the incident has also fueled criticism from Israeli local officials. Under the Oslo framework, Israel retains security responsibility and authority over Israelis in Area C, while Palestinian security forces have no jurisdiction there and are barred from operating without explicit authorization from Israel.

Binyamin Regional Council head and Yesha Council chairman Israel Gantz accused Palestinian police of operating outside their authority and criticized the Israeli authorities’ initial handling of the case.

“It cannot be that Abu Mazen’s police act contrary to the agreements in Area C,” Gantz said, calling for Israeli officials to respond to the incident.

Rosenthal similarly called for a reassessment of Israel’s approach toward Palestinian security forces, arguing that the encounter demonstrated the danger posed when armed PA personnel operate outside areas under their control.

The incident also drew demands from Israeli lawmakers and legal advocacy groups for action against the Palestinian officers involved.

MK Zvi Sukkot, chairman of the Knesset subcommittee for Judea and Samaria, visited the site where Rosenthal said he was stopped and called on the IDF and security establishment to identify and arrest the Palestinian policemen involved. Sukkot also urged authorities to establish and secure a permanent route connecting the Dolev-Talmonim bloc with Highway 443.

“This is an extremely serious incident,” Sukkot said, stressing that the confrontation took place in Area C, where Israel maintains security control. He accused the Palestinian officers of illegally setting up roadblocks, acting violently and “kidnapping a Jew from this place,” and sharply criticized the Civil Administration’s initial statement that Rosenthal had been “rescued.”

“I demand that the IDF immediately arrest those terrorists from the Palestinian Authority,” Sukkot said. “They must be punished for the violence they used against a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces,” adding that Israeli authorities should ensure that Israelis can travel the road safely and prevent armed Palestinian security personnel from interfering with them.

Rosenthal has also appealed through the Honenu legal organization to Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, demanding the arrest of the Palestinian officers. Attorney Haim Bleicher of Honenu argued that the episode went beyond the alleged assault on Rosenthal and represented a challenge to Israeli security control in Area C.

“This is an extremely serious incident in which armed Palestinian policemen entered Area C contrary to the law, endangered the security of the area, beat and abducted an Israeli citizen,” Bleicher wrote. “This constitutes a severe and dangerous infringement both against the individual soldier and against the sovereignty of the IDF and the security forces.”

Bleicher said Rosenthal was left with bruises and facial burning from pepper spray after the alleged assault, and called on Israeli authorities to carry out arrests “as soon as possible” of the officers accused of attacking him.

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