Israel Suspends Rogue IDF Soldiers After Detaining CNN Crew

Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir suspended all operational activities of a reserve battalion involved in detaining and assaulting a CNN team in the West Bank, and ordered the unit withdrawn and reassigned to training pending review, the military said Monday.

The battalion, made up of hundreds of reservists formerly of the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda unit, will remain in reserve service while undergoing a process to “reinforce its professional and ethical foundations,” the military said. It will return to operations only after the process is complete and with Central Command approval.

The move came about 48 hours after CNN aired footage of the incident in the Palestinian village of Tayasir, where soldiers detained reporter Jeremy Diamond’s team as they covered an attack by settlers who had set up an illegal outpost. Video shows a soldier placing CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos in a chokehold, knocking him to the ground and damaging his camera.

Commanders described the disciplinary action as unusually swift and broad, reflecting mounting concern within Israel’s security establishment over escalating settler violence in the West Bank. The military official also said additional measures will be taken against individual soldiers involved in the encounter.