[singpilot]

His mother, on learning her son had been manipulated into doing this, informed the press that her son was mentally underdeveloped. He was 14, yes. His mental age is 8.

Would you want your 14 year old, or even your 8 year old, interviewed by the (admittedly biased, both ways) international press?

The Israeli soldiers probably did this poor unfortunate a favor by protecting him from that travail. If you watch him being put in the back of the van, the press were shoving past the armed soldiers to get to this child. He was scared, and the press were unrelenting.

I say the soldiers were doing him a favor.

His Palestinian mother thanked the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) for not killing him, and for protecting him from retaliation. She did it on camera, and her statement was shown on all but the Arab press. They chose to not run it.