A serious and embarrassing affair shook the Military Police after it was discovered that an IDF soldier allegedly staged the kidnapping of a Palestinian detainee under his supervision in order to extort ransom money from the detainee’s family.

According to an Army Radio report on Sunday, the incident began with the arrest of a Palestinian who had attempted to enter Israel illegally. He was brought to a military detention facility in the Gush Etzion area, where the soldier, who served as a guard at the facility, filmed him and sent the footage to his family, claiming that their son had been “kidnapped,” and demanded that the family transfer a sum of money as “ransom” for his release.

The Palestinian family turned to the police and reported a kidnapping. Israel’s security agencies initially assumed that the incident was a serious Jewish nationalist terror event, leading to the emergency mobilization of security forces, including the Shin Bet and the Jewish Division. The truth was discovered only later; after the “kidnapped” Palestinian’s cell phone was tracked, the investigators were stunned to discover that he was in a secure military detention facility and had not been kidnapped.

After it became clear that the incident was a criminal act by a soldier within the unit, he was arrested and taken for questioning.

The IDF confirmed reports of the incident but declined to provide further details since the investigation is ongoing.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)