15 mar 2020
By Gideon Levy for Haaretz
They’re the best of our boys. One is a “musician from a good high school,” another a “boy scout” who majored in theater.” They’re the snipers who have shot thousands of unarmed protesters along the Gaza border fence.
In the Gaza Strip there are 8,000 permanently disabled young men as a result of the snipers’ actions. Some are leg amputees, and the shooters are very proud of that.
None of the snipers interviewed for Hilo Glazer’s frightening story in Haaretz (March 6) has any regrets. If they are feeling at all apologetic it’s because they didn’t spill more blood.
One was mocked in his battalion with “here comes the killer.” They all act like murderers. If their actions don’t show it – more than 200 dead as a result of them – then their statements prove that these young men have lost their moral compass.
They are lost.
They will go on to study, to have careers and to raise families – and will never recover from their blindness. They disabled their victims physically, but their own disabilities are more severe. Their souls were completely twisted.
They will never again be moral individuals. They are a danger to society. They lost their humanity, if they ever had it, on the shooting berms facing the Gaza Strip. They are the sons of our friends and the friends of our sons, the young people from the apartment across the hall. Look how they talk.
The soldiers’ talk we once knew – the collection of testimonies on the Six-Day War published in English as “The Seventh Day” – turned into the talk of butchers. Perhaps that’s for the best – we have spared ourselves some hypocrisy – but it’s hard not to be shocked at the depths to which we have sunk.
They recalled the number of knees they shot. “I brought in seven-eight knees in one day. Within a few hours, I almost broke his record.” “He got around 28 knees.”
They shot at unarmed young men and women who were trying in vain to struggle for their freedom, an issue that couldn’t be more just. “The regular scenario is supposed to be that you hit, break a bone – in the best case, break the kneecap – within a minute an ambulance comes to evacuate him, and after a week he gets a disability pension.”
Not enough for you?
“The objective is to cause the inciter minimal damage, so he will stop doing what he’s doing. So I, at least, would try to aim at a fattier place, in the muscle region.”
Still not enough?
“If you mistakenly hit the main artery of the thigh instead of the ankle, then either you intended to make a mistake or you shouldn’t be a sniper. There are snipers, not many, who ‘choose’ to make mistakes.”
They knew who they were facing. They don’t even refer to their victims as “terrorists,” only “inciters.” One compared them to members of a youth movement.
“Even if you don’t know their precise ‘ranks,’ you can tell by the charisma who the group leader is.”
They chose their victims by their charisma, with a sniper’s precision. Their “leadership aura” has destined young men to a life of disability in the cage that is Gaza.
But that was not enough. They become bloodthirsty as only young incited people can be. They wanted more blood, not just blood, a child’s blood. Not just a child’s blood, but in front of his family.
They’re the best of our boys. One is a “musician from a good high school,” another a “boy scout” who majored in theater.” They’re the snipers who have shot thousands of unarmed protesters along the Gaza border fence.
In the Gaza Strip there are 8,000 permanently disabled young men as a result of the snipers’ actions. Some are leg amputees, and the shooters are very proud of that.
None of the snipers interviewed for Hilo Glazer’s frightening story in Haaretz (March 6) has any regrets. If they are feeling at all apologetic it’s because they didn’t spill more blood.
One was mocked in his battalion with “here comes the killer.” They all act like murderers. If their actions don’t show it – more than 200 dead as a result of them – then their statements prove that these young men have lost their moral compass.
They are lost.
They will go on to study, to have careers and to raise families – and will never recover from their blindness. They disabled their victims physically, but their own disabilities are more severe. Their souls were completely twisted.
They will never again be moral individuals. They are a danger to society. They lost their humanity, if they ever had it, on the shooting berms facing the Gaza Strip. They are the sons of our friends and the friends of our sons, the young people from the apartment across the hall. Look how they talk.
The soldiers’ talk we once knew – the collection of testimonies on the Six-Day War published in English as “The Seventh Day” – turned into the talk of butchers. Perhaps that’s for the best – we have spared ourselves some hypocrisy – but it’s hard not to be shocked at the depths to which we have sunk.
They recalled the number of knees they shot. “I brought in seven-eight knees in one day. Within a few hours, I almost broke his record.” “He got around 28 knees.”
They shot at unarmed young men and women who were trying in vain to struggle for their freedom, an issue that couldn’t be more just. “The regular scenario is supposed to be that you hit, break a bone – in the best case, break the kneecap – within a minute an ambulance comes to evacuate him, and after a week he gets a disability pension.”
Not enough for you?
“The objective is to cause the inciter minimal damage, so he will stop doing what he’s doing. So I, at least, would try to aim at a fattier place, in the muscle region.”
Still not enough?
“If you mistakenly hit the main artery of the thigh instead of the ankle, then either you intended to make a mistake or you shouldn’t be a sniper. There are snipers, not many, who ‘choose’ to make mistakes.”
They knew who they were facing. They don’t even refer to their victims as “terrorists,” only “inciters.” One compared them to members of a youth movement.
“Even if you don’t know their precise ‘ranks,’ you can tell by the charisma who the group leader is.”
They chose their victims by their charisma, with a sniper’s precision. Their “leadership aura” has destined young men to a life of disability in the cage that is Gaza.
But that was not enough. They become bloodthirsty as only young incited people can be. They wanted more blood, not just blood, a child’s blood. Not just a child’s blood, but in front of his family.
29 feb 2020
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Wednesday issued strong criticism of the lack of accountability for Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip, stating that “impunity continues to prevail” the Middle East Monitor reported.
According to UN News, the new report was published this week looking at “accountability for alleged violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) since 2008, including during large-scale protests beginning in March 2018 along the Gaza-Israel fence”.
The report, presented by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, states that Israeli forces killed 131 Palestinians throughout the OPT from November 2018 to October 2019. The fatalities included 23 children.
“Suggesting a lack of accountability for the killing and injuring of civilians,” UN News added, “the report highlights the killing of double-amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuryah on 15 December 2017.”
“A double amputee in a wheelchair, Abu Thuryah was shot dead with live ammunition to the head,” UN News explained, adding that, according to the report: “There was no indication that Mr. Abu Thoryah had posed an imminent threat of death or serious injury at the moment he was killed.”
“His physical disability must have been clearly visible to the person who shot him, in the front of the head, some 15 to 20 metres from the fence,” the report added.
The human rights report also noted that, 19 months after the start of Great Return March protests, the Israeli military system had delivered only one sentence in relation to “possible unlawful acts” by Israeli forces.
“The persisting lack of accountability for possible unlawful acts committed against Palestinians perpetuates a cycle of impunity that facilitates the occurrence of further violations,” it said.
According to UN News, the new report was published this week looking at “accountability for alleged violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) since 2008, including during large-scale protests beginning in March 2018 along the Gaza-Israel fence”.
The report, presented by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, states that Israeli forces killed 131 Palestinians throughout the OPT from November 2018 to October 2019. The fatalities included 23 children.
“Suggesting a lack of accountability for the killing and injuring of civilians,” UN News added, “the report highlights the killing of double-amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuryah on 15 December 2017.”
“A double amputee in a wheelchair, Abu Thuryah was shot dead with live ammunition to the head,” UN News explained, adding that, according to the report: “There was no indication that Mr. Abu Thoryah had posed an imminent threat of death or serious injury at the moment he was killed.”
“His physical disability must have been clearly visible to the person who shot him, in the front of the head, some 15 to 20 metres from the fence,” the report added.
The human rights report also noted that, 19 months after the start of Great Return March protests, the Israeli military system had delivered only one sentence in relation to “possible unlawful acts” by Israeli forces.
“The persisting lack of accountability for possible unlawful acts committed against Palestinians perpetuates a cycle of impunity that facilitates the occurrence of further violations,” it said.
1 feb 2020
Israeli soldiers shot, Friday, 14 Palestinians, including ten with live ammunition, during protests on Palestinian lands east of Jabalia city, in the northern part of the besieged coastal region.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that the soldiers, stationed in their fortified sniper towers across the perimeter fence, shot ten Palestinians with live fire.
They added that four other Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, and many others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
In addition, the soldiers fired an artillery shell into two areas east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, and al-Maghazi, causing damage.
The Israeli Air Force also fired missiles into lands, east of Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, causing damage, including in nearby homes and structures.
Furthermore, Israeli war jets fired a missile into a site, east of the Sheja’eyya neighborhood, in Gaza city.
The Israeli army claimed it was retaliating to three shells, reportedly fired from Gaza, into open areas in nearby settlements; no damage or injuries were reported.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that the soldiers, stationed in their fortified sniper towers across the perimeter fence, shot ten Palestinians with live fire.
They added that four other Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, and many others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
In addition, the soldiers fired an artillery shell into two areas east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, and al-Maghazi, causing damage.
The Israeli Air Force also fired missiles into lands, east of Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, causing damage, including in nearby homes and structures.
Furthermore, Israeli war jets fired a missile into a site, east of the Sheja’eyya neighborhood, in Gaza city.
The Israeli army claimed it was retaliating to three shells, reportedly fired from Gaza, into open areas in nearby settlements; no damage or injuries were reported.
31 jan 2020
Ala’ Hani al-Abbassi, 15
Palestinian medical sources have reported that a child died, Friday, from serious wounds he suffered in mid-October of 2019, after Israeli soldiers shot in southern Gaza.
The sources said the child, Ala’ Hani al-Abbassi, 15, was shot by the soldiers with a high-velocity gas bomb in his head, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
After his injury, the child received the needed first aid before he was rushed to a hospital in Khan Younis.
The child underwent surgeries and remained in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit, until he was pronounced dead, Friday.
On Friday at dawn, the Israeli army carried out a series of airstrikes targeting several areas in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Media sources said the army carried out ten strikes that led to extensive property damage and caused a power blackout over most of the Rafah.
Palestinian medical sources have reported that a child died, Friday, from serious wounds he suffered in mid-October of 2019, after Israeli soldiers shot in southern Gaza.
The sources said the child, Ala’ Hani al-Abbassi, 15, was shot by the soldiers with a high-velocity gas bomb in his head, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
After his injury, the child received the needed first aid before he was rushed to a hospital in Khan Younis.
The child underwent surgeries and remained in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit, until he was pronounced dead, Friday.
On Friday at dawn, the Israeli army carried out a series of airstrikes targeting several areas in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Media sources said the army carried out ten strikes that led to extensive property damage and caused a power blackout over most of the Rafah.
29 jan 2020 Page 2
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday morning opened fire at a group of Palestinian young protesters during their presence in a border area in the southeast of the Gaza Strip.
According to local sources, the young men rallied near the border fence in the east of Khuza’ah town in southern Gaza to protest the US deal of the century which president Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
No casualties have been reported among the young men.
According to local sources, the young men rallied near the border fence in the east of Khuza’ah town in southern Gaza to protest the US deal of the century which president Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
No casualties have been reported among the young men.
As Donald Trump faced day eight of his trial for abuse of power in the US Senate, he and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unveiled their ‘Deal of the Century’ in which Israel will essentially annex Palestine and push Palestinians into tiny reservations.
Protests immediately broke out in Gaza and the West Bank.
Under the Trump-Kushner plan, the Israeli military will continue to control the entire territory, Israel would annex the land in the West Bank it had settled illegally by military force, and Palestinians in Jerusalem would be further disenfranchised. No Palestinian leaders were consulted in the creation of this plan.
Netanyahu, who is himself facing charges of corruption, applauded the Trump-Kushner plan, which provides for Israel to take over stolen Palestinian land in direct violation of international law.
Thousands of Palestinians protested the plan, chanting “Not for sale”. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian leadership rejects the plan.
Protests immediately broke out in Gaza and the West Bank.
Under the Trump-Kushner plan, the Israeli military will continue to control the entire territory, Israel would annex the land in the West Bank it had settled illegally by military force, and Palestinians in Jerusalem would be further disenfranchised. No Palestinian leaders were consulted in the creation of this plan.
Netanyahu, who is himself facing charges of corruption, applauded the Trump-Kushner plan, which provides for Israel to take over stolen Palestinian land in direct violation of international law.
Thousands of Palestinians protested the plan, chanting “Not for sale”. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian leadership rejects the plan.
