Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

The IDF investigation into the Beit Hanun massacre in which 18 civilians were killed in their beds claims to have revealed the root cause of the accident according to Haaretz. But in doing so it raises new questions:

A component in the targeting radar of the artillery battery - an electronic card that was replaced five days earlier - turned out to be faulty and fed the battery with incorrect target data.

As a result, even though the battery received the correct target coordinates, in practice, the average distortion in the radar stood at 200 meters.

While the gunners were certain they were shelling a specific location, seven of the 11 shells fired in a salvo landed inside a built-up area, 450 meters south of the original target.

Ok, you have a failed component causing 200 meters distortion in targeting. So how do seven of the eleven shells fired end up 450 meters off target?? Riddle me that, Maj. Gen. Khalifi.

And after reading this, let me ask another question:

The IDF is now considering changes to procedure in two ways: require that a live fire test be carried out every time the component is replaced; and use a human observer on every target, who will operate alongside the radar system.

This statement would indicate that after replacing a key component which is necessary for accurate targeting there is no firing test to determine whether the replacement part is working properly. Does this make sense? If there is something wrong with a file or plugin in my blog installation and I install a new version, do I just assume it’s going to work properly? I’d be a numbskull if I did. As they say in Hebrew, al achat kama v’kama (”all the more so”) when there are lives at stake.

And finally, in this blog I’ve excoriated the IDF for their preposterously small margin of error for firing in densely populated Palestinian areas like Gaza:

Peretz said the policy of using artillery fire in the Gaza Strip needs to be reevaluated, especially the distance limits set for the shelling of civilian areas.

In the past year these limits were dropped from 300 meters to 100 meters, and then raised again to 200 meters. Some generals believe this is an insufficient safety limit.

100 meters is 300 feet! Even at 600 feet (200 meters) who can you guarantee you will not err? In fact, IDF artillery has often killed innocent civilians in their homes in precisely this type of accident.

Shelling victim rushes wounded child to Gaza hospital (credit: Reuters)

Just as I was celebrating a remarkable Democratic victory in Congressional elections, this horrible incident occurred. An IDF artillery unit has murdered 19 Palestinians, all civilians, including 10 children and 7 women and destroyed the homes of four families in the process:

Israel Defense Forces artillery shells struck a residential area in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun early Wednesday, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding dozens of others. Ten children and seven women were among the dead, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, adding that 18 of the victims were members of the Athamna family. Khaled Radi, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, said all of those killed were civilians. According to witnesses, the victims were sleeping when the 15-minute barrage of shells first hit. Radi also said at least 40 people were wounded, all civilians. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni expressed regret for the deaths, saying that Israel did not set out to harm innocent civilians. The IDF confirmed that an artillery battery containing 12 shells had aimed at a site from where Qassam rockets were fired at the southern city Ashkelon on Tuesday. The artillery fire had been intended for a location about half a kilometer from the Beit Hanun houses. At this stage it is unclear whether the incident was caused by a technical or human error. The initial assumption is, however, that the wrong coordinates were fed to the artillery unit.

Pray, in this day and age of technological sophistication how does an artillery shell miss its target by one-quarter of a mile?? And why was Israel using artillery anyway to interdict Qassam rocket assaults:

The army has reduced the amount of artillery fire into Gaza in recent months, saying it was ineffective against the Qassam cells and inaccurate. Nevertheless, the army decided to continue firing artillery shells sporadically, in specific instances.

Yet, Tzipi Livni has the chutzpa to say Israel did not set out to harm civilians. When you use a weapon you know to be inaccurate and then kill innocent civilians you can no longer make such a claim credibly. You are guilty of woeful negligence at least. And did the shelling accomplish the desired effect of eliminating the Qassam fire? No, of course not:

Eight Qassams were fired at southern Israel from Gaza following the shelling.

I’m sure you’ll be reassured as I was to know who is investigating this outrage:

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz appointed Major General Meir Kalifi to head an investigation into the shelling.

For those who don’t remember, he’s the same jackass general who “investigated” the Gaza beach massacre (that also involved artillery shelling) and gave the IDF a clean bill of health.

I’m sure he’ll conduct a thorough and impartial investigation letting the chips fall where they may. And this is the bitter fruit of such criminal military offenses:

Rahwi Hamad, 75, who lives across the street, said he woke to the sound of shells exploding and people screaming. “I opened my window and I looked out and I saw a shell hit a neighbor’s house … When I came out, another shell had hit the house,” he said. “There was a stench of blood and (burned) flesh.” Large holes had been punched in
the fronts of the houses and their balconies had collapsed. Surviving relatives sat weeping in front of the buildings. One man dipped his fingers in a puddle of blood and daubed it on his face. “God avenge us, God avenge us,” he cried.

Another survivor said this:

“It is the saddest scene and images I have ever seen. We saw legs, we saw heads, we saw hands scattered in the street,” 22-year-old eyewitness Attaf Hamad told Reuters news agency. “I saw people coming out of a house covered in blood. I started screaming to wake up the neighbours.”

Oh Condi and George…is it time for a ceasefire yet? Remember Lebanon where the same duo refused a ceasefire in order to allow Israel to “soften up” Hezbollah? Or should Israel continue killing scores or even hundreds more such civilians before you’ll get off your goddamn butts and do what you should do to knock heads and make things happen here. Oh the shame of it. Bush fiddles while Gaza burns. George, if you want to redeem your God forsaken presidency after today’s ignominious election defeat, you’ll gird yourself and do the right thing. Help bring peace between these two self-destructive peoples. Create a legacy. To paraphrase John Prine: just give us one thing that we can hold on to and be proud of in your presidency.

UPDATE: Haaretz initially reported that 19 had died. Most other media publication only noted 18 deaths at the time. But since then, 2 other vicitms have died bringing the total to 20 dead as of November 19th).