Israeli army investigates alleged abuse video

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli army said Saturday it is investigating a video that appears to show Israeli soldiers taunting a blindfolded Palestinian man.

Israel's Channel 10 broadcast the video this week and said soldiers had uploaded it to YouTube.

The footage shows a blindfolded man kneeling with what appear to be Israelis in green army uniforms standing behind him. The people in uniform force the man to repeat what they say in Hebrew while they laugh at him.

At one point, they force the man to say, "Golani [an Israeli army brigade] will shove a log up your ass." See the video

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces told CNN, "The IDF considers this incident grave and condemns it. Behavior of this type violates the IDF's core values and the high standards to which its soldiers are held.

"The IDF had no knowledge of the incident prior to receiving this footage from Israeli Channel 10," the spokesman continued.

"Investigative procedures were opened as soon as the footage was received. After the completion of the thorough investigation, a decision will be made as to what further steps, if any, will be taken."

The Israeli army should take harsher measures in cases like this, said Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for the Israel-based human rights group B'tselem.

She said the group was not the source of the video.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region visiting both Palestinian and Israeli leaders, but did not make any public comment about the video.