My post title is perhaps a slight stretch, but only by a little if you continue reading below.
The comedy of errors continues with the IDF positing various theories about how eight Palestinian beachgoers were blown to smithereens last Friday. At first, the Israeli press and military sources said the most likely explanation was an errant Israeli shell which hit the beach instead of its target 400 meters away. But almost immediately, the press reported that perhaps a Palestinian bombmaker had had a “work accident.” The following day the new theory was that an errant Qassam rocket had hit the beach. Now, the newest brilliant bit of misinformation conveyed via Haaretz is:
Detonation of a Palestinian bomb: Less than two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos operated in the northern Gaza Strip and ambushed a team of Qassam rocket operators. The Palestinians reported that groups of divers had arrived by sea, and militant forces announced that they would find ways to prevent any similar operations in the future. The possibility does exist that areas near the beach were mined and that the family members accidentally set off an explosive device that was intended to destroy a team of Israeli special-forces troops.
Possible evidence of this hypothesis are Palestinian eye-witnesses who said that Hamas militants rushed to the site of the blast on Friday evening to collect remnants of the explosives.
And the idea that because Hamas militants rushed to the scene of a horrible accident–that it means that Hamas mined the beach is beyond belief. They wouldn’t possibly have been running there because they’d just heard an awful explosion and wished to aid the survivors, now could they?
The army proposes another cockamamie theory that absolves itself of blame:
Unexploded IDF ordnance: In the past months the IDF has fired hundreds of shells in the area of Friday’s incident. In some instances, Palestinian civilians were killed when they touched the unexploded shells including youths who sought to dismantle the ordnance in order to sell the metal. Israel has no means of pinpointing the location of the unexploded ordnance from previous operations.
To paraphrase this theory: “the shell WAS ours but they killed themselves touching it.” Another convenient explanation that blames the victims for their own deaths. There was a time when the Jewish people were very sensitive to the concept of blaming the vicitms since it was one used against the victims of the Holocaust. It seems a quaint notion now after seeing the use the IDF makes of it in this case.
The general IDF strategy in dealing with this incident seems to be–if we produce enough different theories blaming the Palestinians themselves for their own deaths then perhaps we’ll get the world off our backs. It’s quite repulsive. But then again, Israeli political leaders and the IDF have rarely been known for their sophistication or ability to project a humane image to the world regarding their treatment of the Palestinians.
The IDF, again according to Haaretz’s unnamed military sources, is beginning to discount the theory that the IDF is to blame:
An off-target IDF shell: This appeared to be the most likely scenario during the initial stages of the investigation, however, as it advances there is growing skepticism about it. The head of the Southern Command, Major General Yoav Galant, said Sunday: “There is more than a single piece of evidence that counters the possibility that this [incident] involved artillery shelling. Our shelling ended at 4:51 P.M. [on Friday]. Our observation sources scanned the beach by 4:58 P.M. and they did not witness any unusual activity. This raises serious questions.”
In addition to the inconsistency between the time of the shelling and the time of the explosion, Palestinian witnesses believe the latter was between 5 P.M. and 5:15 P.M., there is a discrepancy between the programming of the shells’ target and the actual site of the incident…Out of six shells fired, five had targeted an area approximately 250 meters north of the site of the actual blast.
This “defense” of the IDF is also not credible. They claim they stopped firing 25 minutes before the accidental explosion on the beach. They claim that the target for their shells was 250 meters (until today the IDF was claiming the target was 400 meters from the beach) distant from the beach. Can the IDF claim that its firing is so accurate that it simply is not possible that a shell fell 250 meters off course? Also, can they be absolutely certain that the information they have confirming the timing of their shelling is unimpeachable? Can they be certain that another shell was not fired after the firing sequence they have confirmed?
And finally what troubles me most of all is that the only source we have to go on is the IDF itself. And the IDF’s word has been proven untrustworthy in situations such as this time and again. The army thinks nothing of shading the truth or of lying if it suits their interests. Why should anyone believe the statements and claims they make about this incident? My fear is that an Israeli population which is terrifically laissez faire regarding security issues will give the army yet another bye on this incident; and that yet again there be no accountability for the criminal murder of innocent Palestinians by Israeli forces.
I don’t know how possible it is to tease out the facts here; but thank you for making the effort. “Apparently accidental” or “accidental” are labels attached to these killings by writers and reporters without any factual foundation I can discover.
Possible evidence of this hypothesis are Palestinian eye-witnesses who said that Hamas militants rushed to the site of the blast on Friday evening to collect remnants of the explosives.
Friday evening
Friday evening
Friday evening
Friday evening
Few hours after the blast. How do you explain that?…
Helping woundeds?
Regards.
Isn’t the most likely scenario that IDF screwed up the strike and missed its target? Why do you assume it’s “criminal murder”? I agree with you that some of the other defenses are incredible but there’s no evidence that it was intentional. Negligence ought to be called out and punished but it’s not murder.
David: I did get carried away w. my language in that instance. But I do feel that an artillery shell landing anywhere fr. a quarter to half mile off target is gross negligence. That’s only one step short of murder.
But the IDF still maintains it cannot find any account that explains how its forces caused the accident. That is what’s a red flag for me. If you’ve made a mistake you acknowledge it, apologize & move on. But if you posit incredible explanations which uniformly attempt to blame the victims and provide no credible evidence for yr claims–then you begin to look suspect.
I believe the IDF’s goal is to confuse the issue, to refuse to accept blame & to hope the entire thing goes away w. no accountability reckoned. And given Israel’s willingness to forgive such breaches of law and decency in its intelligence & military operations, that could very well be what does happen.
You are awfully quick to assume that the IDF must be to blame, that it is impossible that people who blow themselves up, who murder innocent children would be unwilling to use their own for their gain.
It is a sad comment. If you want to pursue justice, pursue it but don’t forget that there is a war going on and people will do things that make your head spin.
CK would try to use the Jerusalem Post to make his case since it’s right wing politics are so conducive to his own. Too bad he neglected this interesting part of Haaretz’s report which one should keep in mind before passing judgment on the credibility of the IDF report:
And even if the IDF claim turns out to be true, Israel still has a very big PR problem on its hands because the Palestinians and the world may never believe it:
In other words, if you engage is a seemingly unending series of brutal acts against a people and it then turns out that one of the so-called brutal acts was not actually your fault, you don’t necessarily get any credit for it based on your previous heinous record. That may be the case for the IDF here.
If it turns out that Hamas or another militant group did mine the beach then they are certainly criminally negligent. But it makes absolutely no sense to me that you would mine a beach where innocent civilians frolic every day. You’d be deliberately courting the death of innocents. CK clearly relishes the prospect that this might be what happened because then he can further rail against Palestinians.
But CK will have to pardon my unwillingness to sing hosanas to the IDF just yet given that Haaretz itself points out the obvious self-interest in the supposed findings.
Jack: There are warriors on both side of this conflict who use “their own” for “gain.” Settlers exploit the memory of the Holocaust to instill guilt within the Israeli psyche for disengagement. Settler parents dress their children with a bulls-eye with the caption: “Karadi [the Israeli police chief] shoot me!”
Palestinians politicians jump for the chance to adopt one of the surviving girls from the Gaza massacre. It’s all for self-interested political ‘gain.’
Indeed they will–on BOTH SIDES of this conflict.
Jack: There are warriors on both side of this conflict who use “their own” for “gain.”
Quite true, but there is a world of difference in justifying the murder of your own to further your cause and invoking the Holocaust.
I’m amazed by your continued unwillingness to distinguish between Israeli and Palestinian violence. What you refer to is far more than a “step short of murder”. Both legally and morally, intent is too significant a factor for you to toss aside. Palestinian militants TARGET civilian populations without any political or military significance. It’s clear to me that the IDF is trying to kill high-level terrorist leaders who hide among civilians for the very purpose of provoking an Israeli attack, which in turn makes their cause look better in the international community. When the IDF blows up shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, & buses with no political or military significance, then we can talk about similarities.
IDF shelling of densely populated Palestinian urban areas such as the Gaza beach region constitutes gross negligence. In addition, the IDF has been criticized & warned by the Israeli media itself that not only is there a danger of killing innocent civilians (as has happened many times), there is a virtual certainty of it. If I warn you that yr behavior will kill innocent people & you persist, then you are guilty of gross negligence. That IS one step short of murder. You didn’t directly intend to kill the person but you didn’t give enough of a shit to figure out another way to accomplish your task. Again, one step short of murder.
What’s “clear” to you is by no means clear to the rest of us. It’s clear to me that Israel is tring to kill not only “high-level terrorist leaders” but also low level rocket launchers. The rockets ARE a danger to Israel–but a much more apt description is that they are a nuisance. The Qassams haven’t killed an Israeli in something like four years. Without the Gaza massacre they probably wouldn’t kill an Israeli for another four years. With the cancellation of the Hamas hudna (which I hope is reinstituted), we can no longer have that certainty.
Besides, are you saying that a rocket launcher is a “high level leader?” If so, then you know nothing about the level of skill required to launch a Qassam nor nor the type of person actually doing it.
Well then the time has come to talk about similarities because during the last Intifada Israel DID destroy virtually the entire PA infrastructure including civilian ministries, schools, etc. Anything that was of value to the PA whether it was civilian or military in nature was bombed to smithereens. Have you forgotten that? Guess you have.
Not to mention the innocent civilians killed by targeted assassinations. BTW, 11 Palestinians were killed yesterday in a single such operation. Eight were civilians and two were children. Collateral damage, huh?