A few weeks ago I covered here the murder of Bassem Ibrahim Abu-Rahma by IDF forces at the weekly Friday protest at the Separation Wall in Bilin. Abu-Rahma, as is seen on extensive video footage of his killing, is unarmed and doing nothing other than shouting for the IDF to stop firing on peaceful, unarmed protestors. For his trouble, the thug pictured here nailed him with a high velocity tear gas canister which essentially pulverized his chest, causing massive bleeding and death.
I was astonished that Palestinian peace activists had been able to isolate from the video such a clear and ominous image of the murderer as he was about to fire the lethal volley. Israel’s war against the Palestinians is usually nameless and faceless since the IDF bombs targets from the air or fires from a distance. But here is the face of an Israeli about to kill in cold blood. This is the Occupation. This is its face. This is its name.
If any Israeli sees this image and can identify who it is, and is willing to pass this information along to those who would like such people not to enjoy impunity for such actions, please contact me.
May we ask what “progress” the IDF is making in investigating this crime? The “most moral army in the world” should certainly by now have the soldier brought up on charges since even the IDF acknowledges the firing was “unauthorized.”
On March 13, the IDF also shot an American protester, Tristan Anderson, in the head with a tear gas canister and he had to have his frontal lobe removed. Debra Saunders of the SF Chronicle wrote a column making fun of him, entitled “Tree Sitter Not in Berkeley Anymore.” http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090519115232251
Max Blumenthal is over there now taking video of the IDF and I’m afraid they’re going to kill him.
Richard,
Do you know how this particular murderer was identified as being the killer of Bassem?
I’m presuming that someone did some analysis and enlargement of the video testimony which clearly shows the IDF soldiers who fired the tear gas. In the original video, the images of the soldiers are somewhat distant but still distinct. But I’m sure with technology you can enlarge the image well enough to see the face.
re Ilene, yeah, Debra Saunders is a desecration, just a horrible, blood-thirsty, truly sadistic columnist. I remember back when she was positively crowing over the indictment & conviction of John Walker Lindh, she seemed to take particular glee in the draconian punishment of that young American who, like so many Afghans, just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. San Francisco’s very own brain-dead Neocon is, sadly, its most famous current columnist. Come on “liberal” San Francisco, you can do better.
really sad that scum like Saunders exist, but so many more out there are just like her. Look at the spy nest called C.N.N. for starters. Half of their payroll is Mossad agents.
unfortunately, there are no such things as ‘liberal’ anything relative to San Francisco, or for that matter, any other part of the U.S. It’s only ‘co-opted’ ‘sit on your ass and play with your game boy or your playstation’ types now in the country.
but, like all empires, it is falling in around them. And they have few clues about how scum like Saunders and others have hastened their downfall with their propaganda and jingoistic right wing bullshit.