JERUSALEM: A bunch of bored Israeli troops may have to face the music over a YouTube clip showing them doing a flash mob-style dance in full combat gear while on patrol in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The footage shows six soldiers, assault rifles at the ready, prowling the deserted streets as the Muslim call to prayer echoes around the walls of the biblical city.
Suddenly, the punchy chorus of Kesha’s "Tik Tok" cuts in and the soldiers break into a carefully-coordinated dance routine, stepping in sync and gyrating, somewhat clumsily, with moves more often used to cult Spanish track "Macarena."
"Tonight I’m gonna fight, Till we see the sunlight, Tick tock on the clock but the party don’t stop, no," blares the US pop star.
Just as suddenly as they started, the soldiers immediately resumed their positions and continued patrolling Hebron, a city that where 600 hard line Israeli settlers live in the middle of 160,000 Palestinians.
When it hit YouTube, "Battalion 50 Rock the Hebron Casbah" went viral until it mysteriously disappeared off the site on Monday, apparently taken down by the soldier who posted it.
The army was not amused.
"This was a joke by the soldiers and the matter is currently being investigated by the battalion commanders," a terse statement said, with media reports saying those involved were likely to be punished for "inappropriate conduct during a military operation."
It is now back on YouTube, uploaded by a number of different users, one of which reposted it with the headline: "It’s easy to laugh at the occupation when you’re the oppressor."
