By Jared Malsin
When Hamas operatives gunned down four Israeli settlers deep in the West Bank earlier this month, the White House condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.”
When Israeli tanks killed a 91-year-old shepherd, his grandson, and another farm worker in northern Gaza on Sunday, will Obama or the State Department condemn this murder? (Will the Palestinian Authority?)
Here’s Gaza-based human rights activist Adie Mormech writing in Mondoweiss about the killings:
We met the family members at the hospital. The wife of Ibrahim was devastated, screaming in horror at the fate that had befallen her family.
“I was there half an hour before it happened”, said Mohammed Abu Oda, another relative. “I saw them by their sheep. I heard the shells from the Israeli tanks, the shells we learned soon afterwards had killed our relatives.”
They were killed instantly, and according to the doctor (who wished to remain anonymous) who examined once they had arrived at Beit Hanoun hospital. Ibrahim suffered severe shrapnel injuries to his face, chest and stomach and his grandson Hossam had the back of his head blown away. We verified this immediately as we saw the mutilated bodies in the morgue. Ismail, the friend of Hossam, had arrived at the hospital 30 minutes after the others but had been buried before we got there; most part of his head was shot away. The boys were close friends, studying in the 9th and 10th grade respectively, and had expected to return to school the following day after Eid.
But on that day they still were on holidays, so they helped Ibrahim, like they were used to do. Because despite of having faced their hardest times, after their house was destroyed and their land bulldozed, the bedouin family still had no other job other than farming. Although they were obliged to farm their land close to the border, it was still far enough away to be outside the Israeli imposed “buffer zone”
“Israel claims that there’s a three hundred meter buffer zone, but they were 700 meters far from the border”, said an Uncle of Ismail, Majdy Abu Oda. “The people there are farmers who’ve been living there for years. We, the people here, were never dangerous for the Israelis. They have photos of the people who live and work here, the area is full off observation cameras. So they knew them.”
Desertpeace 
LanceThruster said,
September 14, 2010 at 22:43
For additional insight as to how the very sanctity of the buffer zone trumps all else, remember this story.
Not Guilty: Israeli Soldier Shot Palestinian Girl 17 Times
From: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/not-guilty-israeli-soldier-shot-palestinian-girl-17-times
Israel often points to the terrorist actions of Hamas or Palestinian leadership such as Arafat to drive home the point about the unrepentantly violent and aggressive nature of those they face. Yet Israel’s terrorism has always been an official arm of the state and they reserve sole power and discretion to reprimand or not as they see fit. Looking the other way over even the most egregious incidents send the message that cover will always be more important than justice. Captain R retaining his anonymity is yet but another way in which he can blend back into the woodwork of “respectable” society.
Not very hard to do as he did not “murder”, but rather only faced charges for illegal use of his weapon – and having the nerve to try to get others to lie about it. Considering typical IDF behavior regularly approved, you’d think this would earn him the Israeli equivalent of the Medal of Freedom.
Heckuva job, Capt. R!
The Progressive Mind » THE WEST’S SELECTIVE SENSE OF JUSTICE « Desertpeace said,
September 15, 2010 at 02:54
[…] THE WEST’S SELECTIVE SENSE OF JUSTICE « Desertpeace. September 14th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments are closed | […]
Geltmeister said,
September 15, 2010 at 09:40
Hello, why are you talking about the ‘West’s selective memory’?
Surely you mean the mass media, the largely Jewish owned mass media. You are talking about Israel’s fifth columnists, those that have ensconced themselves into every position of power and influence in the West.
What the friends of Israel decide to print, publish or broadcast has nothing to do with the ‘West’s selective memory’ and everything to do with the blatant attempts of Israel and it’s supporters to influence public opinion through the control of most major media outlets.
michael mazur said,
September 15, 2010 at 10:34
~~Hamas operatives gunned down four Israeli settlers deep in the West Bank earlier this month~~
Did not happen.
Examination of the video shows a bullet strike tangentially across the windshield and a white sticky placed ABOVE it. Didn’t need a sticky for the obvious. Did it ?
The left side glass panes had several small white stickies OVER the alleged bullet holes. Why OVER and not ABOVE as was done on the windshield ? Why at all, as the white stickies completely obscured the cracks which would have been radiating from the bullet holes had there been any ?
Why no bullet holes in the left side metal panelling of the car as the `spray` would not have been limited to the glass panes? Or why no white stickies ? Maybe because the white stickies would be hard to see on the white painted metal panelling ?
We are told that the people died because of injuries to internal organs, but these are located within the torso and could not have been hit as that would have meant bullet holes in the metal panelling.
Bullets allegedly coming through the glass panes would have struck head neck and shoulders, which are never referred to as internal organs.
Because of that oversight, an amended version of the story put out was that the assailants individually shot the 4 – we may presume from close up by way of finishing them off, after the bullet spray from a distance.
But if individually shot, they picked up the cartridge cases so as to make it difficult for the forensics guys ? No cartridge cases were panned to by the camera, which would have been within the camera’s field of view since, saying again, the assailants were said to have individually shot the 4.
Left side two doors were open, and we see neither glass spray nor blood pools as are always seen in such matters; though they left a shopping bag with stuff sticking out of it.
As too many were sceptical – for whatever reason, the Israelis put out the next day that on the following day 2 settlers were injured. My interpretation would be to distract from the botch that was the story of the 4 allegedly killed.
Nonetheless, the Israelis had to some short days later make the Palestinians `pay the price`, as is the Israeli expression, even though all the Israelis knew it never happened. Even the female IDF announcer knew that as could be seen in her delivery, especially when she said that one was pregnant.
What happened to those 3 Palestinians in Gaza was premeditated murder, for if the Israelis did not murder these 3 then it would be like saying that the 4 settlers had not been either attacked or killed.
How did all this start ? Initially the settlers got a `brain wave`, but didn’t check with Shin Bet to make sure it looked good afterwards on camera. So one of them agreed to have the curved windshield of his car creased by a 5.56mm, that way no glass pane was hit on the other side to double the damage, and another settler in the windshield replacement business agreed to do the job for free.
That’s how the State of Israel gets itself undone, by wackos going off half cocked, as it had no choice but to go into damage control mode necessitating the killing of the 3 Palestinians in Gaza.
I think many people would have given a lot to go see the right side of the car which would have shown no bullet holes from those bullets allegedly passing from the left side.
Ridiculousness said,
September 15, 2010 at 16:21
It certainly wouldn’t be the first fabricated story by them. They practically own the deception industry.