Not guilty. The Israeli captain who ...

Lynott

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.... emptied his rifle into a Palestinian schoolgirl

Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinain schoolgirl | World news | The Guardian


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." "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?" "A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death." "I think that one of the positions took her out." "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."

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."
Love to see him dropped into Gaza without his automatic rifle or farcical court backing and let the Palestinians deal with him as they see fit.
 

Mick1991

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Mihajlovic obviously found my post insensitive so it is removed, all you have to do is ask in future.
 

solvista

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Isreal. Seriously a nation of cocks. While this sort of attrocity is still occuring without punishment or accountability I sincerely hope nobody ties to tell me that the palestinians are wrong to stage attacks on Isreali targets.

I feel that the Palestine cause is a valid one. I'd consider making a donation.
 

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This is appalling, but what's new about that. Another great story from the most moral army in the world.
 

holyland red

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holyland red

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Isreal. Seriously a nation of cocks. While this sort of attrocity is still occuring without punishment or accountability I sincerely hope nobody ties to tell me that the palestinians are wrong to stage attacks on Isreali targets.

I feel that the Palestine cause is a valid one. I'd consider making a donation.
Since your post the Palestinians have murdered 4 civilians, shooting them from close range. Now that is a current event. I believe this will make you happier.

4 Israelis killed in shooting attack - Israel News, Ynetnews
 

mjs020294

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A five year old news story in the CE forum...nice....very current :lol:
 

MikeUpNorth

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As someone who considers themselves neutral on the whole Israel-Palestine issue, I have to say this forum is becoming ridiculously biased against all things Israel. I mean, why drag up an article from five years ago?
 

mjs020294

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As someone who considers themselves neutral on the whole Israel-Palestine issue, I have to say this forum is becoming ridiculously biased against all things Israel. I mean, why drag up an article from five years ago?
Either bash the Jews or feck off...no fence sitters or sympathizer allowed. :p
 

Dr. Dwayne

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it's entirely possible that the OP just saw the headline in a sidebar and clicked the link, not realizing that the anti-Israeli Guardian press have set up their website in an anti-semetic conspiracy to make Israel look worse than the sum of its actions.
 

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Since your post the Palestinians have murdered 4 civilians, shooting them from close range. Now that is a current event. I believe this will make you happier.

4 Israelis killed in shooting attack - Israel News, Ynetnews
Not cool. I just saw the newsflash on Al-Jazeera, but was in a rush, and didn't get the age or genders of the victims.

Well done to the murderers for killing innocents, and without being glib about this, taking the focus away from the talks that are meant to start.

Prior to these killings today, when was the last killings, by either side?
 

holyland red

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Not cool. I just saw the newsflash on Al-Jazeera, but was in a rush, and didn't get the age or genders of the victims.

Well done to the murderers for killing innocents, and without being glib about this, taking the focus away from the talks that are meant to start.

Prior to these killings today, when was the last killings, by either side?
The last WB killing was a couple of months ago, when an israeli police vehicle was ambushed with one policeman killed. Just heard that overall this has been the quietest year in the WB for some time.

Meanwhile, PM associates: Direct talks to go ahead as planned - Israel News, Ynetnews
 

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If 50 more Palestinians are slaughtered, they just might collectively be worth one Israeli life.
 

Sultan

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If 50 more Palestinians are slaughtered, they just might collectively be worth one Israeli life.
That's not the point though. The sanctity of human life is sacred. Every human being has a basic to live. Israels' actions however wrong can never justify taking of an innocent life in return.
 

Kaos

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That's not the point though. The sanctity of human life is sacred. Every human being has a basic to live. Israels' actions however wrong can never justify taking of an innocent life in return.
That wasn't what I was hinting at.

Take this story for example - yes, it's a 5yr old story nevertheless its new to me and many others here it seems, and sadly it's not the only example of its kind. Look hard enough and you'll see many more stories like these with endless numbers of Palestinians - men, women and child at the end of violence like this, and the saddest thing is no one makes a big deal out of it. If one Israeli soldier were to be killed though then every major news outfit would report it and you'd never hear the end of it.

Gaza itself only received mainstream coverage seeing as it would have been more difficult to disguise killing over a thousand Palestinians, in fact some people had never heard of Gaza and knew nothing about the sanctions before Cast Lead.
 

Neutral

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Oh look it's in the West Bank, didn't know that was Israeli territory.
It all belongs to them, pesky Palestinians should be grateful for what they have :mad:

EDIT I'm sorry I don't mean to detract from the opening post or the latest bit of news, both of which are tragic.
 

Mihajlovic

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That wasn't what I was hinting at.

Take this story for example - yes, it's a 5yr old story nevertheless its new to me and many others here it seems, and sadly it's not the only example of its kind. Look hard enough and you'll see many more stories like these with endless numbers of Palestinians - men, women and child at the end of violence like this, and the saddest thing is no one makes a big deal out of it. If one Israeli soldier were to be killed though then every major news outfit would report it and you'd never hear the end of it.

Gaza itself only received mainstream coverage seeing as it would have been more difficult to disguise killing over a thousand Palestinians, in fact some people had never heard of Gaza and knew nothing about the sanctions before Cast Lead.
I cannot see how this can be true, at least in respect to the media in Western Europe which is mostly pro-Palestinian. Btw what do you think how many more Sunis need to be slaughtered by Shia (and vice versa) in order to collectively be worth mentioning by all major news outfits and how many more of their deaths do we need in order to open at least one 10-page long thread on the CE forum?

I'm obviously not condoning the killing of Imam which took place five years ago nor I am saying such issues should not be discussed but constantly playing the numbers game becomes a weak argument after a while, imo.
 

Commadus

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This was on Guardians review of the decade news I believe. Why Lynott chose it is beyond me. However calling the Guardian anti-Israel is a petty soundbite.
 

Lynott

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This was on Guardians review of the decade news I believe. Why Lynott chose it is beyond me. However calling the Guardian anti-Israel is a petty soundbite.
It was on the front page of the guardian website yesterday, that's why I chose it. A shocking story, one of many involving Israeli forces. If it happened five years ago or 5 days ago does it make the story any less shocking? Are things any different over there? Is the Israeli attitude any different? I mean the pride that holyland exudes when replying to these stories sums it up for me.
 

holyland red

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It was on the front page of the guardian website yesterday, that's why I chose it. A shocking story, one of many involving Israeli forces. If it happened five years ago or 5 days ago does it make the story any less shocking? Are things any different over there? Is the Israeli attitude any different? I mean the pride that holyland exudes when replying to these stories sums it up for me.
Hehe...it doesn't matter in a Current Events forum. Funny it was on the front page of the impartial Guardian too. Not that the paper is Anti-Israeli at all.

As the Guardian won't do the job for you, and you won't find it on it's front page let's check on the Arab attitude for a second:

Once you're done getting shocked and all, can you honestly say that the Arab attitude has changes since? (hint: last night's murder was only a couple of miles from where this happened).

Lastly, it wasn't pride you spotted in my reply. I just enjoyed the way you made yourself look like an idiot.
 

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I certainly did not make myself look like an idiot, it was under the most read section of the guardian so I guess some people find it interesting to read, as they did in this post. And it was pride as it is in all your replies to Israeli atrocities you despicable feck!


Any body that prints facts about Israeli atrocities is anti-Israeli, no go ahead a pull out the anti-semetic card altogether. We should all turn a blind eye while you murder innocent people with the backing of the mighty US. I would love to see the US pull their support of you and watch you shit yourselves. See how brave you are without your gunships firing into civilians from 50 miles away.
I'd say they would still win. I'm thinking a one week(that's 7 days, one more than the farcical 6 day war:lol:) this time around.

Syria/Jordan/Lebanon are militarily infants. Only way Israel loses is, if all Arab states decide they are simply going to move the entire mass of arab population and lose millions to eventually flood Israel.

From where I'm sitting I don't see most of the arabs having the stomach for a fight.
 

holyland red

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Accepted and retracted. It does my head in the way he defends this kind of stuff, despite his background.
Where exactly did you see me defend "this kind of stuff"? I think what did your head in was that you made a fool of yourself.

If you were really interested in a debate you'd have acknowledged your mistake here. It's fairly easy starting a thread and providing some of your own arguments in the OP. Then people with opposite opinions might offer you insights that aren't available to the Guardian readership.

Obviously, it's a lot easier copying and pasting stuff from the Guardian to get your bandwagon going. Here, and apparently in the Guardian too (5yo story in the most read section) this is what gets your crowd cheering.