The Israeli military said Tuesday it was formulating a response about a video that surfaced on YouTube that showed what appeared to be an Israeli soldier dancing around a blindfolded and bound Palestinian prisoner, CNN reported.
The video comes after a number of social media controversies have engulfed the Israeli military. This summer, a female former Israeli soldier posted photos of herself posing in front of blindfolded Palestinian prisoners. The photos and her subsequent defense of her actions sparked international criticism of the military.
It was not known when the latest video was shot, but it appears to have been posted in 2008.
The clip, which first aired Monday night on Israel's Channel 10, shows a man dressed in an Israeli army fatigues dancing next to a blindfolded female woman.
Contacted by CNN, the Israeli military said it was preparing a response. Earlier, it released the following statement to Israeli media:
"In the wake of a request and after watching the clips, the military prosecutor's office has instructed the military police to launch an investigation. That will be done in any incident in which there is suspicion of similar behavior in the future as well. The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] condemns actions of the kind presented in the clips, and it both has and is acting to eradicate it by means of briefings given to soldiers, guidelines to commanders, military orders and punishment when necessary. The clips do not attest to the norm but, rather, only to the exception from the norm."
Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said the video was " a disgusting illustration of the sick and hostile mentality of the Israeli soldiers serving as occupiers in the Palestinian territories."
"It should remind the whole world that it is about time to end this illegal occupation and to allow the Palestinian their basic right of freedom," he said.
In August, the pictures posted on Facebook by a former soldier -- identified online as "Eden from Ashdod" in Israel -- prompted harsh reactions.
In one photo, she is seen smiling sitting on a blast barrier next to a blindfolded man. In another, she is sitting in front of three blindfolded Palestinians, one with his hands tied in front of him.
The photos have since been taken down from her Facebook site, but Israeli media reports the photos were labeled "IDF -- best time of my life."
Earlier this year, another video of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron dancing in unison to the Ke$ha song "Tick Tock" went viral.