TEL AVIV – A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem has filed a complaint of police misconduct after an officer shocked him six times with an electric taser gun at a water park in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

He was handcuffed on the ground during the tasering, and his wife and five children were unfortunate onlookers. The whole incident was caught on video and has been making the rounds in the Israeli media.

It marks yet another example of high-profile violence by Israelis against Palestinians that has consumed media headlines here recently.

The incident
The Palestinian, Talal al-Sayyad, a 42-year-old receptionist at Al-Maqased Hospital in East Jerusalem, was at the water park celebrating the Id-al- Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan with his family.

The incident unfolded after the Tel Aviv police were called to the water park to control a brawl between two East Jerusalem families. The police used pepper spray to control one of the alleged participants in the fight. Sayyad, who was not involved in the brawl, attracted the officers’ attention because he approached them, with his 3-year-old son in his arms, to ask them to stop using the pepper spray so liberally.

Sayyad explained to NBC News in a phone interview what happened. “I said, ‘Please you scared my children, this young man had no involvement in the incident.’ The police officer raised the gun to my face and ordered me not to interfere,” Sayyad said.  

Israelis fret over ‘lynching’ of Palestinian   

At that point, he said he put his son on the ground and tried to explain to the police that the original fight was over and resolved. But that’s when the trouble really started. 

“He shot me with the electric gun. Even after I fell to the ground he shot me more and more,” said Sayyad. “They handcuffed me and every time I asked them not to shoot – because it was extremely painful – they shot me over and again repeatedly."

The graphic video above, shot by a witness, shows him being tasered repeatedly – even while a crowd of onlookers yell at the police officers to stop. One onlooker shouted, “Stop! You’re killing him!”

After the incident, Sayyad was taken for questioning by police from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. The police accused him of attacking a police officer.

During questioning at the police station, a friend of Sayyad's brought the video of the incident to prove his innocence against the officers’ claim.

According to Sayyad, the interrogator responded to the video by saying, "I am sure you did not attack the police officer, but you were an obstacle to their operation.”

When NBC News reached out to the Tel Aviv police for comment, Mickey Rosenfeld, the police spokesperson said that the suspect attacked a police officer and that the video released was only a portion of the full incident. He added that the police action was justified because Sayyad presented a threat.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz report on the incident included a slightly longer statement from the police: 

The Tel Aviv police said the film "was edited in a manner that does not reflect the complete picture. There was a massive brawl between two families from East Jerusalem, and several of the participants were wounded and had to be evacuated to receive treatment. Police officers who arrived at the scene were forced to separate the fighting sides and confront a crowd that incited all present to riot and impede the officers' work. The man in the film attacked the policeman and interfered with him in the line of duty. A Taser was used in order to control him."

Pattern of violence?
Sayyad’s incident was actually the third high-profile example of violence by Israelis directed at Palestinians in the last week.

A mob of dozens of Israeli Jews beat a 17-year-old Palestinian Arab until he was unconscious in the wee hours of Aug 17. The youth ended up in a coma for two days after the incident. Although there were hundreds of bystanders, reportedly nobody intervened to stop the beating, and that led to soul-searching by Israeli Jews. 

In another incident in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening, three Palestinian East Jerusalem residents were attacked on their way back from a Tel Aviv beach as they stopped at a parking lot to ask for directions. One man suffered a head injury and required eight stitches and the other sustained light injuries. The assailants also damaged the victims' car. The victims say they contacted the police, but no officers were sent to the scene.

The recent violence has left many wondering if the incidents signal a larger trend.

The results of a survey conducted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Macro Center for Political Economics last year on young people in Israel seems to confirm fears that animosity among Israeli youth toward Palestinians is hardening.  

According to the study, 28 percent of Jewish Israelis ages 15 to 18 said the word “hatred” best expressed their feelings toward Arabs.  In addition, 72 percent said they definitely would not want Arab citizens of Israel living in their neighborhood, and 77 percent said they would be unwilling to invite an Arab to their homes.  

For Sayyad’s part, he is still suffering from injuries as a result of the tasering. But he believes the incident was part of a larger pattern of increased violence by Israelis against Arabs.  

 "Had I been Israeli, they wouldn't have done this to me. But when they heard me speaking in Arabic they used violence against me.”  

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Jason Reed / Reuters

U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is recognized by pedestrians at Grosvenor Place in London, July 27, 2012, as he was forced by gridlock traffic to walk from his hotel to the Irish Embassy to meet with Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny.

TEL AVIV – After his gaffe-laden trip to London, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is probably looking forward to a warmer welcome on the next leg of his foreign tour: Israel.

Arriving in Jerusalem on Sunday, Romney is hoping the visit will highlight what he argues are the sharp contrasts between himself and President Barack Obama in their approach towards U.S.-Israeli relations, as well as Iran. 

In a speech earlier this week, Romney accused Obama of "shabby treatment" of Israeli leaders, saying “the people of Israel deserve better than what they have received from the leader of the free world,” and promised to take a tougher stance against Iran.

Their differences extend to their personal relationships. The frosty relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Obama has created a perception that U.S.-Israeli relations have deteriorated. But Netanyahu has a warm relationship with Romney that goes back nearly 30 years, when both worked as advisers at the Boston Consulting Group in the 1970s.

This will be Romney's fourth visit to Israel, his most recent was last year – when he said at a conference that Iran's leaders "represent the greatest threat to the world since the fall of the Soviet Union."

On the other hand, Obama has faced harsh criticism for not visiting Israel during his presidency, although he took a similar trip to Romney’s during the 2008 campaign. And historians note that during his two terms in the White House, Ronald Reagan never visited Israel, while George W. Bush only visited Israel in the seventh year of his presidency.  

Recent polls suggest that Jewish votes in key battleground states, like Florida, are not a sure thing for Obama come November. Although Obama won 78 percent of votes among Jews in 2008, according to exit polls, that support seems to have weakened. A recent Gallup poll of voters released in June showed that 64 percent of registered voters support Obama versus 29 percent for Romney. Those votes could be critical in what may be a close race, analysts say. 

On the eve of Romney’s trip, Obama signed a bill on Friday to strengthen U.S.-Israeli military ties and reassure Jewish voters of his administration’s “unshakeable commitment” to the country. 

NBC News spoke with a number of Israeli and Arab analysts, as well as representatives of Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad in Israel, to get an idea of what they think of Romney’s visit. See their answers below.

How will Romney's visit affect public opinion amongst Israelis?

Shimon Schiffer, Chief Political Commentator for Yediot Ahranot, Israel’s most popular daily newspaper: They are aware of the competition between Obama and Romney. It is a dangerous and delicate situation because Netanyahu identifies with Romney and he is also very close to one of the Republican donors in the party. [He was referring to the billionaire GOP supporter Sheldon Adelson]. I don’t think that what we will see here is a healthy relationship between Israel and the White House for the Democrats. If I was in Netanyahu's position, I wouldn't ask Romney to come now.

Hillel Schenker, Democrats Abroad: The Israeli public traditionally views the Democratic Party as the American party most devoted to Israel. It was a Democratic president, Harry Truman, who welcomed the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and another Democratic President Jimmy Carter, who devoted so much presidential time and energy to facilitate the Israel-Egyptian peace treaty in 1978. Even after his visit Romney will remain an unknown quantity to the Israeli public, so his visit will not alter Israeli attitudes towards the Democratic Party.  

First Read: Obama: White House's Israel play

How will Romney's visit impact voters in the U.S., especially in swing states like Florida?

Mark Zell, Republicans Abroad: While the current president was seeking to appease the Muslim world with his 2009 Cairo address and in his visits to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, he has ignored Israel in his travels and has sought to bully Israel into making concessions against its own national interests. A Romney visit will show voters who are concerned about the state of Israel that a Romney administration will revitalize the Israel-American alliance. 

Hillel Schenker, Democrats Abroad: Many of them will have severe problems with Romney's opposition to choice for women, to national health care, to Warren Buffett’s proposal for raising taxes for the “one percent” (that he belongs to) while pandering to the Tea Party and Christian evangelical right.

The fact that former New York Mayor Ed Koch has declared that he will campaign for Obama in Florida will have a greater impact on Jewish voters in Florida than the visit by Romney to Israel.   

Yoram Ettinger, former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, D.C. 
The decision by Romney to highlight Israel as a unique ally of the U.S. will enhance his standing amongst most Americans – Christians and Jews – as evidenced by recent polls, which document increasing American support of Israel. It will have particular impact on voters in critical battleground states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

How do you rate Obama's presidency with regard to relations with Israel?

Mark Zell, Republicans Abroad: The Obama administration has been the most hostile to the state of Israel. The Obama administration has not only been hostile to Israel, but dangerously inept in handling the entire region. Obama has made it a point to create "daylight" between America and its loyal Israeli allies, and a as result has left Israel isolated and twisting in the wind. Whether publicly humiliating the Israeli prime minister, or making what should be automatic vetoes of anti-Israel initiatives contingent on squeezing concessions from the Israelis, this administration has signaled to the world that it is open season on Israel.

Obama has also mishandled the entire region. He poisoned the atmosphere of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process by making untenable demands on Israel. While obsessing over housing starts in Jerusalem, he has helped facilitate the takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood, allowed the Hezbollah takeover of Lebanon and done nothing in Syria as it bloodily disintegrates and loses control of its chemical weapons arsenal. Worst of all, Obama has dithered on Iran, thinking he could make progress just through engagement. The Iranians are happy to talk with him – as they cross one red line after another on their march towards nuclear weapons.

Hillel Schenker, Democrats Abroad: He provided Israel with more security for its security needs than any previous president, $3.1 billion. And financed the ‘Iron Dome’ program which protects civilians in the Israeli south, while putting together a coalition which is using diplomacy and sanctions to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

He also declared his vision for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace, based on the two-state solution, as a cornerstone for peace and stability in the Middle East. Candidate Romney remains an unknown quantity, so it is difficult to predict what a Romney presidency would be like.

Yoram Ettinger, former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, D.C.: Obama considers Israel to be the aggressor and the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular to be the victims. Obama does not believe in confronting rogue regimes, such as Iran, but rather engaging them in diplomacy and sanctions. Obama is the first American President who shares no affinity to Judeo-Christian values, which are cherished –according to American public opinion polls – by 80 percent of the American public.

What the World Thinks of US? Israel

What can Romney offer Israel that Obama has not delivered?

Hillel Schenker, Democrats Abroad: We have no idea what candidate Romney can offer Israel. Hopefully, he will not back the ideas of his major donor Sheldon Adelson, who has opposed the two-state solution concept which is at the foundation of bi-partisan Democratic and Republican approach, as well as the international community's approach.

Simon Schiffer, Chief Political Commentator for Yediot Ahranot, Israel’s most popular daily newspaper: Israelis want to hear a commitment towards Israeli security especially with regards to Iran. They also want the American embassy to move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But I don’t think Romney will act differently as a president. We have to remember that cooperation between Israel and the U.S. in intelligence, security and defense has never been this high as it was during the Obama administration. But there is a difference between how to deal with the Palestinian issue and how to deal with Iran. 

What are the Palestinians looking for in Romney that Obama has not delivered?

Dr. Issa Hassan Abu Zherah - Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy, Al Quds University: We know that U.S. foreign policy has its factors – the complicated elements that affect foreign policy, the three main factors are: Middle Eastern oil, free trade and the security of Israel. We know the unique relationship between Israel and the United States.  

The way in which Americans will formulate their policies after the events of the Arab Spring is what is important to Palestinians…There are three main factors affecting Palestinians: Palestinians don’t believe in the peace process; secondly, they aren't happy with Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority) and have seen nothing after two decades of negotiations; thirdly, many have turned their eyes to the Islamic project. They don’t care about anything anymore…For them the American candidates are a choice between worse and worse. I think the Arab Spring will be in Palestine next. 

What will Romney be discussing in his visit?

Hillel Schenker, Democrats Abroad: Essentially it will be a concentrated crash course on Middle Eastern realities today. He will be trying to accomplish in a very short time what Obama has been doing on an on-going basis throughout his presidency. 

Yoram Ettinger, former Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, D.C.: The recent seismic developments on the “Arab street” highlight Israel's role as the only reliable, stable, predictable, capable, democratic and unconditional ally of the U.S., which offsets the lower U.S. profile in the Middle East and expected cuts in the defense budget.

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Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images

Palestinian schoolgirls walk past Israeli border policemen standing guard outside a Palestinian house in the center of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Thursday after dozens of Jewish settlers took over the Palestinian property overnight, claiming they have legal ownership.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian organizers are calling for massive demonstrations on Friday to mark Land Day, an annual event that commemorates the killing of six Arabs who were protesting Israeli land policies on March 30, 1976.

Tens of thousands are expected to participate in what organizers have billed a "Global March to Jerusalem." The plan is to have protesters from neighboring countries march up to the Israeli border to "demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians and to protect Jerusalem," according to organizers.

The future status of Jerusalem is at the heart of the Palestinian movement and is the theme for the global Land Day. East Jerusalem is regarded as the likely capital of a future Palestinian state.

For Palestinian farmer, a constant reminder of Israeli occupation

For many Palestinians, Land Day is an annual opportunity to demonstrate that Palestinians inside Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are united and share common goals. 

This year will mark 36 years since Israel’s practice of expropriating Arab land to build Jewish settlements provoked protests by Arab residents in the Galilee and Negev. In addition to the six people who were killed, over 100 wounded during the ensuing violence. Since then Palestinians have commemorated March 30 as Land Day and have turned the day into a general protest against what they see as discriminatory practices by the Israeli government. So it seemed an appropriate date for activists to hold their march. 

Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images

An Israeli settler looks out the window of an occupied Palestinian house as an Israeli soldier stands guard in the center of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on March 29, 2012. Dozens of Jewish settlers took over the Palestinian property overnight, claiming they have legal ownership.

"The Global March to Jerusalem represents three things," said Barghouti. "First of all, the unity of the Palestinian people, and their struggle to achieve freedom and end occupation, for Palestinians in and out of Palestine; second, it affirms the centrality of the issues of land and Jerusalem to achieving Palestinian freedom; and third, it provides international solidarity with the Palestinian cause."

'Absolutely peaceful'
The organizers plan to send convoys of vehicles to approach Israel's borders simultaneously from four neighboring countries: Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. According to organizers, more than 600 institutions from 64 states have been involved in planning the march. Protests are also planned outside Israeli embassies in Europe and Arab countries. Organizers say they are hoping for 1 million people to demonstrate in various protests all over the world.

"The event is meant to be a non-violent protest that will include parliament members, citizens and religious figures from all over the world – including Jews, Israelis will also protest with us," Saied Yaqin, one of the march organizers, told NBC News.

Organizers of the march insist the protests will be orderly.

"This march is absolutely peaceful and non-violent, and we will try everything possible to prevent violence," Barghouti said. "Of course, if they use violence against us, the world should protest. But the march is absolutely peaceful and nobody will try to provoke violence."

But Israeli Defense Forces aren’t taking any chances.

A statement released by the IDF said they are "prepared for any eventuality and will do whatever is necessary to protect Israeli borders and residents."

Israel has also issued a stern warning to Arab countries and Palestinians to refrain from approaching the border.

Soldiers along the border have been instructed to be on high alert and they will reportedly have crowd-dispersal means at the ready and will also deploy marksmen. According to a Haaretz report, a so-called "skunk" device is being prepared that sprays a harsh-smelling substance at demonstrators. 

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