July 18, 2018
In Blog News
Amos Harel, “Israel braces for incendiary week in Gaza, West Bank as tensions with Iran expect to ease,” Haaretz (13 May 2018):
A good many of the fatalities [in the Gaza protests] are based by a bullet straying upward or ricochet from the ground.
It’s difficult to complain about the sharpshooters or their direct commanders … many of the protesters marched here, encouraged by Hamas, as if they were entering corrals they knew was there. Like a line of bulls on the way to the slaughter, the protesters pushed toward the line of fire – and the snipers had little room to maneuver.Amos Harel, “A predictable bloodbath in Gaza,” Haaretz (16 May 2018):
B’Tselem, ”
Israeli soldiers deliberately and fatally shot Palestinian paramedic Rozan a-Najar in the Gaza Strip
” (17 July 2018)
An investigation conducted by B’Tselem proves 20-year-old a-Najar was fatally shot by a member of the security forces who was aiming directly at her as she was standing about 25 meters away from the fence, despite the fact that she posed no danger to him or anyone else and was wearing a medical uniform.
The killing of a-Najar is a direct result of the open-fire policy Israel has been implementing since the protests began. The lethal results of this policy are well known: Since the protests began on 30 March 2018, 127 Palestinian protesters have been killed – including at least 18 minors – the vast majority of whom posed no danger to the Israeli security forces stationed on the other side of the fence. In addition, about 4,100 people have been wounded by live fire. Medical staff were among the casualties. On 14 May 2018, two weeks before a-Najar was killed, security forces killed another paramedic, Musa Abu Hasanin, 34, at a demonstration near Jabalya R.C. According to figures up until 10 July 2018 as released by the World Health Organization, 357 medical staff had been hurt: 26 by live fire; 37 were directly hit by teargas canisters; 12 were hit by shrapnel; no details were given for the rest. In addition, 58 ambulances sustained damage.
The disavowal of responsibility for a-Najar’s killing by the IDF Spokesperson and other Israeli state officials should not be construed as an instance of the competent authorities informing the public of the facts. Far from it. They are simply part of the efforts made by the authorities responsible for this policy to mitigate the damage to Israel’s image by hiding and whitewashing the facts. Yet, propaganda and reality are two different things. In reality, Israel is indifferent to the killing of Palestinians. Otherwise, it would long ago have changed its open-fire policy and stopped shooting at unarmed protesters on the other side of the fence who pose no danger to anyone. Evidence of this criminal policy is found time and time again as the military persists in implementing it unchanged, enlisting its whitewashing apparatus
[including Amos Harel–NGF]
to back it up, which almost always ensure no one will be held accountable for the killing of Palestinians even in outrageous circumstances such as a-Najar’s killing.