‘Murderer, traitor’ – IDF commander berated by terror victim’s friends

“My friend’s blood is on your hands, you murderer,” a friend of terror victim Harel Masoud shouted at the IDF commander responsible for the area in which the terror attack occurred.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A senior Israeli army commander responsible for security in Judea and Samaria was verbally assaulted by friends of a terror victim as he paid a condolence visit, sparking condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Col. Eliav Elbaz, the commander of the Binyamin Regional Brigade and whose troops are currently stationed in the Ramallah area, was verbally assaulted as he left the home of Harel Masoud on Monday evening.

Elbaz had traveled to Masoud’s family home in the central Israel town of Yad Binyamin in order to pay his respects to the slain man, who was killed along with three others in a shooting terror attack earlier in June near Eli.

But Elbaz’s presence, along with that of another officer, was not welcomed by friends of Masoud.

“Shame on you, get out of here traitor, you murderer,” a group of young men can be heard shouting at Elbaz in clips circulating on social media. “My friend’s blood is on your hands, you murderer. Get out of here, murderer.”

An additional clip depicts another young man yelling at Elbaz, “You murdered Harel.”

Elbaz and the other officer who accompanied him on the video do not engage with the crowd shouting at them; rather, they continue walking to their vehicle without responding, as the young men continue to follow them down the street hurling abuse.

It’s unclear if the men specifically targeted Elbaz because they were aware of his role as a commander of the area in which their friend was killed, or if they were attacking him simply because he was a uniformed member of the Israeli army.

In a statement, Netanyahu praised Elbaz and slammed the young men for their verbal abuse of the commander.

“The assault and cursing against IDF Binyamin Regional Brigade Commander Col. Eliav Elbaz, who commands the IDF forces that safeguard Israeli citizens, are a disgrace and I strongly condemn them,” Netanyahu said.

“We will neither tolerate nor accept any kind of violence against IDF officers and soldiers.”