Police investigating after West Bank settler filmed running over sheep with ATV

Assailant also appears to beat Palestinian man; incident, caught on video, comes a day after a settler was filmed beating a dog in a Palestinian village

The Israel Police began an investigation Sunday after a settler driving an ATV was filmed running over a flock of sheep owned by a Palestinian in the area of Khirbet al-Tawil, near Nablus, earlier in the day.

In the video, the ATV is seen with the skull of a bull mounted on its front bumper. The footage shows the settler stepping off the ATV while two sheep are trapped underneath it. He then appears to begin beating a Palestinian man who is filming the altercation.

Multiple sheep were injured as a result of the incident, according to reports in Hebrew media.

Police said that “as part of the investigation, actions are being taken using all tools at the police’s disposal to clarify the circumstances of the incident.”

The shepherd of the flock, named as Rafe by the Ynet outlet, said that the settler driving the ATV “causes trouble every day.”

“One day the [driver] came to my home, another day he followed me in a cave and sprayed pepper spray,” the shepherd added. “These settlers are criminals. Every day they cause trouble.”

The incident is the latest to occur amid a monthslong surge in mostly unchecked settler violence in the West Bank. Arrests and convictions of perpetrators are rare.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly told that up to 80 percent of incidents that Israeli troops in the West Bank record are Jewish attacks on Palestinians. The statistic was shared with the premier by an officer in the IDF Central Command during a meeting on Jewish terrorism, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

The running over of the sheep was the second incident in as many days in which a settler was filmed hurting an animal belonging to a Palestinian. On Saturday, footage circulated of a young masked assailant repeatedly beating a dog in a Palestinian village.

The dog was taken to a veterinarian and received medical care, according to Hebrew reports.