Told to my wife by a friend who witnessed this first-hand:

• Police are loitering in the yard of a family. One of the police officers is leaning on a table. A small boy in the yard tells him not to lean on the table because it might break. The policeman grabs the boy by the collar, hoists him up in the air and heaves him. He lands several yards away. Unprovoked violence. No warnings. Brutal abuse.
• Two years Six Months ago, some teenagers threw eggs at police officers from the roof of family X. Standing on the porch at the time was their twelve year old daughter (uninvolved in the egg-throwing). She was arrested as a suspect. Fast forward to this week. The police arrive in force at the house, enter the house and begin to ransack the contents, looking for the now-fourteen year old daughter (using the egg incident of two years ago as an excuse). Luckily she was not in the house.

I have been told on numerous occasions that things in Israel are different. You have to shop differently. You have to travel differently. Different bureaucracy, different banks, protektzia. Just different.

But I never suspected that this also included an intrinsic difference in human decency, in the abuse of citizens by the “authorities”. (And if anyone wants to compare this to claims made against the IDF vs. the so-called palestinians, don’t. In that case it is defense against suicide bombers, rock throwing and Kassam missiles. In the case of Hevron (and Gush Katif, Northern Shomron) it is just uncalled for, brutal abuse).

For more on the subject check out Israel Perspectives. (Or just keep following the headlines page on A7).

Update: Here are some pictures of the events transpiring in Hevron

Update 2: See coverage of this story (including one the second bullet point above)