Israeli soldiers 'shoot boy for fun'
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AL-Jazeera News
Israeli soldiers 'shoot boy for fun'
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Wednesday 08 December 200413:12 GMT
A group of Israeli soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip have reportedly admitted killing a 15-year-old Palestinian in Khan Yunus for sport.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth, the incident took place in March when a group of newly graduated soldiers were on a hike near the town of Khan Yunus.
According to the report, an undisclosed number of Givati brigade soldiers shot and killed Khalid Sulaiman Mahdi while he was working with his father on their farm.
The boy's father, Sulaiman Mahdi, told the paper the killing was "just for the sake of it".
"Seven bullets pierced my son's head, so you can't talk here about a mistake or random gunfire. This was an act of direct and clear sharp shooting," he said.
"The area is wide open and contains nothing special. The only thing unusual was the shooting at us, which killed my son."
No threat
The father, Khalid, and two other sons were working in the family's field when the shooting occurred.
Numerous Khan Yunus residents
have been killed by Israeli forces
According to soldiers interviewed by Yediot Ahronoth, there were no operational purposes for the shooting and no justification, since the boy and his family posed no threat to the soldiers.
An Israeli army spokesman said the army had investigated the incident, but admitted that no arrests were made.
The spokesman refused to say why the soldiers concerned were not arrested or prosecuted.
Sulaiman Mahdi, who leads a simple farmer's life, said he did not plan to sue the Israeli army for his son's murder.
"I only hope the Israeli army takes care such a thing doesn't occur again. There are lots of children here who work with their parents and I hope Khalid will be the last casualty."
Frequent occurrence
According to human-rights groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army has killed hundreds of Palestinian minors, often without justification, in the course of its incursions into Palestinian population centres.
Rights activists say Israeli troops
do not abide by military ethics
The killing of innocent Palestinians by the Israeli army during the past four years has reached a worryingly frequent level, say the rights groups.
"I don't have the slightest doubt that it is a rampant phenomenon," says Basim Eid, a former field researcher for the Israeli human-rights group, BTselem and head of the East Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group.
"The Israeli army is no longer an army that abides by military ethics."
Show trials
In an interview with Aljazeera.net, Eid accused the Israeli army of "inspiring soldiers to commit these abominable acts of sheer murder".
"The army top brass has given every indication that soldiers who commit murder will be immune from serious prosecution, and even if they are prosecuted, it won't be a big deal."
Eid said investigations carried out by the army were only for show, and to appease international public opinion.
"I don't think they carry out genuine investigations in these killings," he said.
"They only put up a show and usually after the press and human-rights groups have exposed a given crime."
Last month, BTselem accused the Israeli army of covering up crimes against innocent Palestinians.
The army rejects the charges.
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I seriously hope this is not true.
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Even one of the army officer shot down 1 palestinian girl wearing a tudung which was carrying a school bag...
anything can happen... -
it's Al-Jazeera...
"news" from them require so much salt that you'll get liver failure...
btw, there was an instance where the IDF "shot a boy and his father"?
after all was said and done, it was scientifically proven that unless they got the Kennedy "magic bullet", there was no way the IDF could have shot them...
and worse, a horrible realisation came across the investigators... the Palestinian gunmen who started the firefight with the IDF were the only ones who could shoot the father and son...
but, Al-Jazeera and every other media covering that shootout vilified the IDF and the IDF was tried and found guilty in the press...
so, Al-Jazeera?
nah.. not credible at all... -
like it or not, Israeli soldiers have commited many such attrocities. There was this one incident aired by CNN or BBC a few years back, where they actually gunned down a boy and his father during a firefight, and then they shot and killed the amublance medic trying to crawl to the faher and boy to save them. sometimes i can't help but wonder if in the interest of being "fair", are some ppl being overly biased towards the Israeli troops? No one is claiming that the palestinians aren't committing attrocities, but it's a load to crap to summarily dismiss every piece of news about Israeli attrocities as "another palestinian/arab propaganda" sounds like what someone brainwashed might say.
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that was the one.. the Palestinians actually killed the father and son...
they were hiding behind the concrete barrier... and the IDF was on THE OTHER SIDE of the barrier...
how come the father and son got gunned down??Originally posted by HENG@:like it or not, Israeli soldiers have commited many such attrocities. There was this one incident aired by CNN or BBC a few years back, where they actually gunned down a boy and his father during a firefight, and then they shot and killed the amublance medic trying to crawl to the faher and boy to save them. sometimes i can't help but wonder if in the interest of being "fair", are some ppl being overly biased towards the Israeli troops? No one is claiming that the palestinians aren't committing attrocities, but it's a load to crap to summarily dismiss every piece of news about Israeli attrocities as "another palestinian/arab propaganda" sounds like what someone brainwashed might say. -
gee u tell me. i remembered that the IDF guys were facing the side they were sheltering on. like i said. its up to one to remember that both sides are not as clean as one would like to believe, however much such a fantasy world we ould all love to live in.Originally posted by the Bear:that was the one.. the Palestinians actually killed the father and son...
they were hiding behind the concrete barrier... and the IDF was on THE OTHER SIDE of the barrier...
how come the father and son got gunned down?? -
the footage was shot by French TV, who were hosts of the Palestinians...
isn't rocket science..
both sides are not clean..
but one side has been trying their damnest to make peace while the other side uses their children as bombs...
someone once said... it is up to the Palestinians to love their children more than they hate the Israelis before there is peace...
and sadly, the death of Arafat may allow them to make peace...Originally posted by HENG@:gee u tell me. i remembered that the IDF guys were facing the side they were sheltering on. like i said. its up to one to remember that both sides are not as clean as one would like to believe, however much such a fantasy world we ould all love to live in. -
the Israelis haven't been trying their damnest to make peace either. Running bulldozers over people's homes while the occupants are inside is not a very peaceful gesture. the whole middle east thing is a sad tragedy. and whats worse is that both sides have huge egos... so its really a contest of egos. peace is not to be had by being blind to what YOU may think is the lesser evil.Originally posted by the Bear:the footage was shot by French TV, who were hosts of the Palestinians...
isn't rocket science..
both sides are not clean..
but one side has been trying their damnest to make peace while the other side uses their children as bombs...
someone once said... it is up to the Palestinians to love their children more than they hate the Israelis before there is peace...
and sadly, the death of Arafat may allow them to make peace... -
what do you do, if the family gets that house paid for because the suicide bomber kills a whole lot of israelis?
Hamas paid for that house...
that house represents BLOOD of normal israelis walking around, trying to get breakfast or something...
what i cannot and something we MUST NEVER EVER do, is to condemn the Israelis while keeping quiet when some maniac blows himself and a whole lot of women and children in buses.. for Hamas or Islamic Jihad or whatever...
where is the condemnation of the Palestinians?
the silence is deafening...Originally posted by HENG@:the Israelis haven't been trying their damnest to make peace either. Running bulldozers over people's homes while the occupants are inside is not a very peaceful gesture. the whole middle east thing is a sad tragedy. and whats worse is that both sides have huge egos... so its really a contest of egos. peace is not to be had by being blind to what u may think is the lesser evil. -
and what i cannot and something we MUST NEVER EVER do, is to condemn the suicide bombers while some maniac sits in his comfy office n orders the slaughter of innocents in refugee camps with military hardware... just because they 'suspect' there are whatever Shitty organisation's members in there.Originally posted by the Bear:what do you do, if the family gets that house paid for because the suicide bomber kills a whole lot of israelis?
Hamas paid for that house...
that house represents BLOOD of normal israelis walking around, trying to get breakfast or something...
what i cannot and something we MUST NEVER EVER do, is to condemn the Israelis while keeping quiet when some maniac blows himself and a whole lot of women and children in buses.. for Hamas or Islamic Jihad or whatever...
where is the condemnation of the Palestinians?
the silence is deafening...
everytime a suicide bomber strikes, do people not condemn such acts of violence? yet nowadays it seems that it is right for Israelis to launch rockets into civilian housing to kill everyone inside because of their 'suspicions'. so where is the condemnation of the Israelis then? or is the slaughter of many for the purpose of killing one now a widely accepted practice? I hear nothing but the silent cries of the suffering ones, be they arabs or jews, palestinian or israeli. the silence is defeaning? indeed. reports of israeli attrocities are always "rubbish" while reports of suicide bombings are always accurate. can u spell B I A S E D ? -
ever see then condemn the suicide bombers?
or has the world become desensitised to them?
when the Mossad or the GSS takes out the mastermind, everyone screams blue murder..
anyhooo...
look up one name: Mikdad -
taking out the mastermind, i don't give a damn, but not when they also level the whole refugee camp to get at 1 person. and yes, I still see condemnations of suicide bombings in papers, in the news etc. this forums is for military nuts, hence its normal to talk about regular armed forces. why don't u start a militia/raghead nuts forums and i can go on to condemn the suicide bombers. perhaps u WANT so much to hear a silence so defeaning that u're somehow neglecting to notice the condemnations of suicide bombings in the media?Originally posted by the Bear:ever see then condemn the suicide bombers?
or has the world become desensitised to them?
when the Mossad or the GSS takes out the mastermind, everyone screams blue murder..
anyhooo...
look up one name: Mikdad -
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Both sides are equally damned until they can learn to love themselves and each other that little more.
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Hey guys, let not jump into conclusion over what happen before we get the full fact. It may be an accident of a sort, or even if it is true, every society has it's miscrean, pychopath. Let not make it an issue that black & white, who is oppressing who. By elevating a pure isolated incident into a general phenomenon is both irresponsible & counter-productive. It perpetuate the hate & doesn't contribute to it's resolution.
Heng, not offense intended, don't take the media at their word especially the western media. If you look objectively they are particularly one-sided in their reportage over the Israeli/Palestinian issues. Get the fact yourself, get into books, go into the history of this conflict, go & read up the account even from the Israelis' perspective, process it yourself, you may discover a rather different perspective. There are many well meaning, genuine people who weren't quite informed, taken in by the mass media. A good place to start is to get a copy of Leon Uris's novel "Exodus". T's a well researched book that is based on historical event. It will give you a good idea of how this Israeli/Palestinian mess got started.
One cannot with a good conscience say the Israeli wanting to disenfranchise & suppress the Palestinians. As recent as 2000, Clinton tried to broker a peace between them. the Palestinians got the best deal ever. Israel agreed to ALL THEIR DEMANDS except for one in exchange for peace, yet Arafat walk away from the negotiating table, to the perplexion & shock of Clinton & the world. That one demand that Israel couldn't agree is the ceding of Jerusalem to the Palestinian. They have proposed to make it an international city under joint custody of Israel & Palestinian authority, but it was rejected by Arafat & the Palestinian people. Instead Arafat stirred up the peoples's sentiment stirred up the intifada to pressurise Israel into concession. He open up the Pandora Box & couldn't close it since. Young people & children are stirred & used against Israel, & they died doing. That's where the dying & suicide bombing comes about. Peace has been offered up to them in a silver platter & Arafat on behalf of the Palestinians send it smashing to the ground, yet now the Mass Media is blaming Israel for a deal that the Palestinian didn't hold. They shot themselves in the foot.
Incidently this is the 3rd time they did it to themselves. The first time, they did not accept the UN mandate whereas Israel did in 1947. The second is they leave their home in respond to the Arab nations' calling, to make way for the Arab army to make a clean slaughter of the new Jewish nation, pushing them out into the sea in 1948, so that they can come back & profit from their Jewish neighbour. The Arab nations lost & continue to lose in 1958, 1967, 1972, each time being the aggressor, they lost their end of the deal. 50 year is a long time, they could have stood up & improve on their condition, their amenities yet they chose to linger in self victimizing. The surrounding Arab nations who called them out in the first place could have settled them or at least provide better facilities even in a camp situation, yet they withhold, to keep the Palestinian issue alive. The world had since given a lot of money for them to improve themselves, yet PLO, the Fatah, Hamas, pocketed for them own agenda, while the people they purport to fight for languish in the camp, never to see the money that is supposed to be for their betterment. There is no good reason for them to see a peaceful stable Palestinian nation, that means their funding will stop, at least stop going to themselves, instead of getting easy money, thay have to spend money now on the people & the people will realise wat a bunch of losers they are. -
A little more details one should take into consideration when looking into the Israeli/Palestinian issue.
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Israel became a nation-state in 1312 B.C, almost 2,000 years before the rise of Islam, and was a nation before that. Since 1272 B.C., the Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. The Arabs conquered Palestine in 635 AD, from its legitimate Jewish rulers, who had evicted the Byzantines while being led by a woman general, one Hefzibah, who then restored Jewish sovereignty. Palestine was taken from the Jews by the Arabs and not the other way around. Arab sovereignty over Palestine ended in 1071 when the area was conquered by Seljuk Turks.
4. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
5. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
6. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
7. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be between 400,000 and 630,000, many of whom in fact were allowed to return after the Israeli war of Independence ended.. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be much larger.
8. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, the Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country smaller than the state of New Jersey.
9. The Arab - Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by 22 independent states, not including what Israel has offered the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended herself each time and won.
10. In the 1990s Israel gave the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and had even supplied them with weapons for their police force, which later was used against the Israeli during the intifada.
11. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
12. The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
13. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting their holy sites at the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. Similar discrimination against Jews has continued under Israeli rule. -
im glad to see someone has raised points COMPLETELY BIASED against palestinians. I thought we were supposed to be raising fairer views? But instead I seem to be reading propaganda from Mossad's "PR branch"
