Een nieuwsbericht uit 2005 uit "de enige democratie in het Midden-Oosten":"Gisteren werd in een militaire rechtbank een Israëlische legerofficier vrijgesproken die het hele magazijn van zijn automatische geweer leegde in een 13-jarig Palestijns meisje, waarna hij verklaarde dat hij hetzelfde gedaan zou hebben wanneer ze drie jaar oud zou zijn geweest." (The Guardian)
Goed, het gebeurt dan wel in het achterlijke, barbaarse en bloeddorstige Midden-Oosten, maar Israël is toch heus "het centrale front in de verdediging van het Westen" (Geert Wilders, 2010) en "het bastion van de Westerse beschaving". Ze mag blij zijn dat ze niet gestenigd is!
(bron)
Samir Al Hams, right, father of 13-year-old Palestinian girl Iman Al Hams, mourns over her body at the family house during her funeral in Rafah refugee camp, southern of Gaza Strip, Tuseday, Oct. 5. 2004.
Hieronder volgt:
- het verslag van The Guardian over de uitspraak (2005)
- de zieke propaganda van Ad Bloemendaal in het Parool over deze barbarij uit 2004. Het is bijzonder leerzaam om hier te lezen hoe Bloemndaal de leugens van Israël als waarheid op ons bord schuift, waaronder de bewering dat het meisje "terecht beschoten" was. Uiteraard zonder andere bronnen geraadpleegd te hebben, zoals de radiocommunicatie waaruit toen al bleek dat de militair loog.
Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinain schoolgirl
· Officer ignored warnings that teenager was terrified
· Defence says 'confirming the kill' standard practice
The Guardian | By Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | Wednesday 16 November 2005
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
The soldier, who has only been identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.
The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.
After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.
"They did not charge him with Iman's murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times," he said. "This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children."
The military court cleared the soldier of illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.
Capt R's lawyers argued that the "confirmation of the kill" after a suspect is shot was a standard Israeli military practice to eliminate terrorist threats.
Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: "I told you I was innocent."
The army's official account said that Iman was shot for crossing into a security zone carrying her schoolbag which soldiers feared might contain a bomb. It is still not known why the girl ventured into the area but witnesses described her as at least 100 yards from the military post which was in any case well protected.
A recording of radio exchanges between Capt R and his troops obtained by Israeli television revealed that from the beginning soldiers identified Iman as a child.
In the recording, a soldier in a watchtower radioed a colleague in the army post's operations room and describes Iman as "a little girl" who was "scared to death". After soldiers first opened fire, she dropped her schoolbag which was then hit by several bullets establishing that it did not contain explosive. At that point she was no longer carrying the bag and, the tape revealed, was heading away from the army post when she was shot.
Although the military speculated that Iman might have been trying to "lure" the soldiers out of their base so they could be attacked by accomplices, Capt R made the decision to lead some of his troops into the open. Shortly afterwards he can be heard on the recording saying that he has shot the girl and, believing her dead, then "confirmed the kill".
"I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over," he said.
Palestinian witnesses said they saw the captain shoot Iman twice in the head, walk away, turn back and fire a stream of bullets into her body.
On the tape, Capt R then "clarifies" to the soldiers under his command why he killed Iman: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the [security] zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed."
At no point did the Israeli troops come under attack.
The prosecution case was damaged when a soldier who initially said he had seen Capt R point his weapon at the girl's body and open fire later told the court he had fabricated the story.
Capt R claimed that he had not fired the shots at the girl but near her. However, Dr Mohammed al-Hams, who inspected the child's body at Rafah hospital, counted numerous wounds. "She has at least 17 bullets in several parts of the body, all along the chest, hands, arms, legs," he told the Guardian shortly afterwards. "The bullets were large and shot from a close distance. The most serious injuries were to her head. She had three bullets in the head. One bullet was shot from the right side of the face beside the ear. It had a big impact on the whole face."
The army's initial investigation concluded that the captain had "not acted unethically". But after some of the soldiers under his command went to the Israeli press to give a different version, the military police launched a separate investigation after which he was charged.
Capt R claimed that the soldiers under his command were out to get him because they are Jewish and he is Druze.
The transcript
The following is a recording of a three-way conversation that took place between a soldier in a watchtower, an army operations room and Capt R, who shot the girl
From the watchtower "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."
From the operations room "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"
Watchtower "A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."
A few minutes later, Iman is shot from one of the army posts
Watchtower "I think that one of the positions took her out."
Captain R "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."
Capt R then "clarifies" why he killed Iman
"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."
De 13-jarige Iman al-Hams werd op weg nar school doorzeefd met 17 kogels vanuit een Israëlische wachttoren. "Wij schieten op alles wat beweegt."
IDF Captain "R" receiving his weapon in return after hearing the Southern Command court's ruling. (foto: Limor Edrey)
'Captain R' dient in de Givati Brigade, bekend van de racistische T-shirts. Tijdens operatie Cast Lead lieten deze soldaten "Dood aan de Arabieren" en dergelijke teksten achter in huizen in Gaza.
Israël: meisje terecht beschoten
van onze correspondent AD BLOEMENDAAL
TEL AVIV - De tragische dood van een dertienjarig Palestijns schoolmeisje bij een Israëlische legerpost in de Gazastrook is niet te wijten aan onethisch gedrag van de plaatselijke compagniescommandant. Dat is de conclusie van een eerste onderzoek van het Israëlische leger.
Volgens het onderzoek bevond het meisje zich in verboden militair gebied, had ze een bom in haar schooltas kunnen vervoeren en is daarom terecht beschoten. Ook zou niet zijn gebleken dat de compagniescommandant het munitiemagazijn van zijn wapen in het lijkje heeft leeggeschoten, zoals enkele soldaten eerder verklaarden.
Dat de commandant na het incident van zijn post is ontheven, heeft volgens het rapport niet te maken met de dood van het meisje, maar met zijn slechte functioneren binnen de eenheid en met operationele fouten. Volgens berichten in de Israëlische pers heeft de commandant tijdens het onderzoek gezegd dat enkele oudere soldaten hem erbij wilden lappen en daarom hebben beweerd dat hij een magazijn in het lichaam van het meisje leegschoot. Andere soldaten hebben bevestigd dat veel soldaten een hekel hadden aan hun commandant wegens de harde discipline die hij de compagnie oplegde.
Het incident deed zich voor op 5 oktober, toen soldaten in de versterkte post bij Rafah 'een verdachte figuur' signaleerden die op hen af kwam. Een paar uur eerder was de positie onder vuur genomen door Palestijnse militanten.
''De eenheid, die dacht te maken te hebben met een militant, opende het vuur en raakte de figuur,'' vermeldt het rapport. Daarna verlieten de commandant en een groep soldaten de positie om poolshoogte te nemen. Daarbij werden ze opnieuw onder vuur genomen.
''De soldaten beantwoorden het vuur en trokken zich terug,'' is de lezing van het leger. ''Tot het tegendeel is bewezen aanvaardt de stafchef de lezing van de compagniescommandant dat hij in de grond schoot, in antwoord op vijandelijk vuur in zijn richting.''
Er loopt nog een onderzoek door de militaire politie.
Parlementsleden van de Israëlische oppositie hebben het interne onderzoek door het leger gekritiseerd. Zij menen dat hier een onafhankelijk juridisch onderzoek op zijn plaats was geweest.
Het Parool, 16-10-2004
Na zijn vrijspraak werd 'Captain R' bevorderd tot majoor, en in 2006 ontving hij NIS 82.000 ($17.000) compensatie.
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