Israeli raid on Gaza kills five

[idontwantaname]

Five Palestinians have been killed during an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip, reports say.

<snip>

Army sources said they were looking for facilities used by militants and fired on gunmen who tried to attack them.

<snip>

Palestinian security sources said all five were members of the same family and were killed when a pilotless Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a group of people, including gunmen.

<snip>

More than 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the end of June 2006.

About half of those killed were civilians or not taking part in any hostilities at the time of their death, Palestinian medical sources and an Israeli human rights group have said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6043042.stm

[razors edge]

1. And the beat (down) goes on.

[shergald]

2. Usually, the civilian-combatant kill ratio is higher.

[Englander]

3. OPT: Number of children killed doubles

JERUSALEM, 12 October (IRIN) - The number of Palestinian children who have already been killed this year in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, almost double the number for the whole of 2005, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Many of the children have died after being shot by Israeli troops during military ground operations or have been killed in Israeli air strikes on houses.

On Thursday , 13-year-old Suhaib Kadiah became the 92nd Palestinian child to die this year when she was shot dead by Israeli troops during an incursion into the Khan Younis area of Gaza.

The Israeli Defence Force said it was looking for tunnels and other infrastructure it said was used by militants. Suhaib was among five members of the same family to be killed in a firefight.

In the month of July alone, 36 children were killed in Gaza after Israel launched a military operation following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a8e2e231abf6ebe6da2f0129bf1f83db.htm

[shergald]

5. The number is getting close to the number of children who died

during the first three years of the second Intifada. The total was about 350. It was a prime motivator of suicide bombings in Israel, i.e., retaliation, which generally came in cycles from both sides.

However, there are no suicide bombings today, and we are not hearing about deaths of Israeli soldiers. When Israeli soldiers die, we usually hear about it that day or the next. The IDF issues news reports. By contrast, we hear almost nothing about the deaths of Palestinians, let alone the deaths of these children. Alison Weir (If Americans Knew) is so damned right as is the documentary Peace, Propaganda, & The Promised Land.

But what is causing this high number of children to be killed? What could conceivably justify killing children or even civilians?

[shergald]

4. Here's another unnecessary and tragic killing.

If americans knew what was going on, they could never support what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Although the truth is making some inroads on college and university campuses, it is not widely appreciated by the average American who continues operate under our media embargo.

No need for it here:

Action Alert: IMEMC is reporting that Israeli forces killed another mother today. People may wish to send letters or op-eds to their local papers or ask that their media cover this death:

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22055/1/

Article: Former Congressman Paul Findley has written a powerful commentary published today in the Daily Journal-Courier, Jacksonville, Illinois.


WHY WAS THE MOTHER MURDERED?
By Paul Findley

Alison Weir, a California journalist and activist who chronicles the bias in U.S. media coverage of Middle East events, bestirred many Americans—perhaps many thousands--during the past few days ago with a powerful, chilling Internet account of the largely-unreported murder of a Palestinian mother of eleven children by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Itemad Ismail Abu Mo'ammar was fatally shot while trying to rescue her deaf husband from a severe beating by Israeli soldiers, who were furious because he did not answer their questions.

Weir wrote:

"Foolishly or valiantly, how is one to say, the 35-year-old woman interfered. She tried to explain that her husband was deaf and couldn't hear their questions. Then she attempted to stop them from hitting him. So they shot her. Several times. She didn't die, though. That took longer, because the soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to transport her to a physician. Finally, after approximately five hours, one was permitted to take her to a hospital where physicians were able to render one service: pronounce her dead. Why did this all happen? The family lived behind the residence of a resistance fighter wanted by Israel. The death of Itemad was simply 'collateral damage' in a failed Israeli assassination-kidnapping operation."

Weir searched major U.S. media--broadcast and print--from coast to coast, and found Itemad's death reported only in three newspapers, a single-sentence notice in each. One of the three, The Washington Post, reported inaccurately that the woman was killed by an Israeli tank round. After exchanging messages with Weir, the Post cleared for publication her letter that explained that multiple bullets, fired close up—not a tank round--were the cause of death. But the Post reneged. The letter was not published. Why? Weir's explanation: "After all, these were only Palestinians, and it was just another mother dead."

Ponder the "why" of the shooting. Although the distraught woman struggled to get the armed soldiers to stop beating her deaf husband, she surely posed no physical threat to them. Even if they did not understand what she said, she was, at worst, an inconvenience, hardly deserving to be shot.

Now consider the "why" of the aftermath. Were the hearts of the Israeli squad so hardened that they could not act with compassion as the husband and children watched helplessly through unavailing tears as the woman bled to death? Why did they want her dead?

This Gaza atrocity is not an isolated aberration. Israeli brutality is commonplace, and so is American silence in response. What transformed the soldiers, their military superiors, as well as the civilian leaders of the Israeli government into callous brutes? Is the whole Israeli governmental system so corrupted with anti-Arab passion that mercy for a dying mother is nowhere to be found?
Other questions beg answers. Will the killers be punished or even rebuked? Will messages of regret, consolation, and—yes--compensation be sent to the survivors? Sadly, I know from the wells of memory the answer to these two questions is no.

Such messages should come from Washington, not just from Israel, as the guns and bullets used in the killing were almost certainly gifts of the U.S. government. Will the U.S. ambassador deliver messages to the aggrieved, as well as a threatening protest to Israeli officials, demanding an end to the brutal treatment of innocent people? Here again, the answer is no.

Why the cover-up in major U.S. media? The awful circumstances of Itemad's death were not reported, because major media are afraid—yes, afraid--to feature Israeli criminal behavior. Israel's influence is suffocating. Imagine the intense, sustained coverage that would have dominated major media if the roles in Gaza had been reversed, with a dying Israeli woman denied medical service for hours by Palestinians who had shot her at close range for no good reason.

U.S. media are generally brave, except where Israel is concerned. So are Members of Congress. So is the presidency. And the rest of us? Almost everyone is afraid to criticize Israel, no matter how barbaric its behavior.

U.S. silence in the face of an Israeli atrocity is a green light to more crime. If we look at our own hands, we may find a trace of Itemad's blood right there in plain sight.

Paul Findley served in Congress 1961-83, is the author of three books on the Middle East, and lectures widely. He resides in Jacksonville. Alison Weir, director of If Americans Knew organization, lectured at Illinois College in Jacksonville in January 2005.