Over the past week, an Israeli solidarity committee seeking accountability for the murder of Palestinian activist Mustafa Tamimi, orchestrated a masterful social media campaign. Each day, they exposed a different level of the military command that was responsible for Tamimi’s death and those of thousands of other Palestinian civilians. They closed the campaign today, which marks the first anniversary of the victim’s death (on December 9, 2011).
They began with Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and worked their way down until today, they got to the actual shooter, Sgt. Aviram Boniel. He’s the one who fired a lethal high-velocity tear gas canister at point-blank range which smashed Tamimi’s head into a bloody pulp, killing him.
The Most Moral Army in the World has surely investigating this horrific killing and brought the soldier responsible to justice. What’s that you say? A year since the incident occurred and not a peep from the IDF Advocate General’s office? How can that be? We have video of the murder. We have IDF regulations and a Supreme Court ruling which forbid the practice of firing such rounds at close range directly at people. What more could they want? Apparently, more than any reasonable human being could want. Perhaps they want a Judge Goldstone to write a UN report which will cause such embarrassment to Israel on the world stage that it will be forced, reluctantly to hold the killer accountable.
Sgt. Boniel’s Facebook account shows his face, masked and unmasked, that makes him look like the stone-cold killer he is. His photo gallery even shows what’s likely the murder weapon. But the gallery also shows Boniel reveling with his friends, drinking, standing by a swimming pool. He might even be a half-way decent human being (though of course that’s hard to know) out of uniform. It makes you realize the utter pathology that is the Israeli Army of Occupation.
Boniel grew up and attended high school in Beersheva.
UPDATE: There are two Aviram Boniel’s on Facebook. I inadvertently linked to the wrong account initially. This one is the correct one.
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That website you linked to has photos of children, presumably his family members. Is this really something you want to be doing?
AbdelRazzaq al-Tamimi, Mustafa’s father passed away in october. In an interview with Linah Alsaafin (Electronicintifada), he said: “We’re not fooling ourselves (…) We know we are not going to see any justice done to Mustafa. There have been thousands killed before him (…) What I hope for is that people remember him, that they will not forget him. I don’t want him to be forgotten.”
There’s an interview with Mustafa’s father on the Facebook wall “Who killed Mustafa Tamimi ?” (linked by Richard) as well as this photo of happier days in the al-Tamimi-family:
http://manara1ram.blog.com/files/2011/12/mustafa-and-his-family2.jpg
PS. Mustafa’s cousin, Rushdi al-Tamimi, the brother-in-law of Bassem al-Tamimi was killed in november during a demonstration in Nabi Saleh in solidarity with the people of Gaza. A video of Israeli soldiers preventing his sister (filming for B’Tselem) and others from helping him when he was lying in the ground, wounded, is on the net.
“I inadvertently linked to the wrong account initially”
Trigger happy?
I don’t pull triggers or kill people. Your friends like Aviram Boniel do.
This happens again and again to Palestinians who are unarmed and peacefully protesting. It happened in 2009 to Bassem Abu Rahma of Bi’lin, who was shot in the chest with a tear gas canister shot by an occupation soldier. The shooting was caught on video, clearly showing the soldier aiming at Bassem, who was a tall man and wearing a bright yellow shirt. Bassem led the weekly protest against the separation wall and was well known to everyone, probably also the soldiers. A big man, he was easy to pick out of a crowd. He was never armed and would stop protesters from throwing stones at the soldiers. Of course, in spite of the video, the soldier was never charged and Bassem’s death became just another sad statistic.
Tear gas canisters have become convenient murder weapons against unarmed Palestinians. They are very dangerous projectiles and soldiers tend to fire them at people instead of into the air, the proper method. I don’t expect anyone will be charged in Mustafa’s death either. In the case of Tristan Anderson, the young American who was severely brain damaged by being shot with a tear gas canister, his civil suit is, as far as I know, still pending.
But do you blame the individual soldier or the army itself (or both)? Clearly this action is a violation of official policy, but is the policy not enforced deliberately? Was this soldier told to shoot directly at the rock-thrower by his superiors or did he do so against orders? In either case, someone needs to be held accountable.
RE: “But do you blame the individual soldier or the army itself (or both)? Clearly this action is a violation of official policy, but is the policy not enforced deliberately?” ~ Bob Mann
SEE: “‘You are fighting a religious war against gentiles’: What rabbis told Israeli soldiers in Gaza war”, By Mail Foreign Service, The Daily Mail, 3/20/09
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163508/You-fighting-religious-war-gentiles-What-rabbis-told-Israeli-soldiers-Gaza-war.html
P.S. ALSO SEE: “IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel”, By Amos Harel, Haaretz, 1/26/09
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-rabbinate-publication-during-gaza-war-we-will-show-no-mercy-on-the-cruel-1.268849
P.S. ALSO SEE: “IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel”, By Amos Harel, Haaretz, 1/26/09
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-rabbinate-publication-during-gaza-war-we-will-show-no-mercy-on-the-cruel-1.268849
Mary,
Would you be able to clarify how many Palestinians have been killed by tear gas projectiles in the last 5 years or so?
Thanks
I don’t understand your point. You mean because 20 or so Palestinians and international activists have been murdered in this way it’s somehow insignificant? Sorry. That’s not how the rest of the world works (though it is how Israel works). The rest of the world, which values ALL human life doesn’t permit any murders in cold blood. Even the IDF violates its own rules in permitting is soldiers to commit these murders.
Why tear gas projectiles in particular, Yanshuf? The IOF is an opportunistic murderer. I could give you figures on all the interesting ways they kill civilians and/or international activists. Bulldozers, bullets, motor vehicles, which? What is so interesting is that there have also been reports by activists of being shot at with tear gas canisters and the soldiers missed their targets. Oh, I should also mention that 2 years ago a young American Jewish woman was the target of a tear gas projectile, and she was shot in the face and lost an eye. Maiming is also a sport of the IOF, so it seems.
So if you’re implying that we are making too much of this, think again. The soldiers who fire tear gas at demonstrators are presumably trained in the handling and proper firing of the canisters at crowds. There is no excuse that can be made for a tear gas projectile that is fired so that it maims or kills a human being. None.
I just want to chime in for a second. In addition to the Jewish American woman, two Israeli men (one a lawyer) have also lost eyes to rubber bullets (both in Bil’in). I, myself, (an American non-Jewish woman) was somewhat (though not nearly as dramatically) maimed by a tear gas canister by the IOF in a demonstration in Qusine (up near Nablus). They “meant?” to fire past me, but instead took off 1/3 of my middle left finger. Whether or not this is a strategic plan of the IOF, it happens frequently. Murders happen. It doesn’t matter how much, it only matters that it happens and no one is brought to justice for these horrific and dehumanizing crimes.
You can see the video here: http://palsolidarity.org/2007/09/urgent-media-alert-demonstrators-shot-and-arrested-in-qusin/
Anyone, literally anyone, is fair game, and as I said, the soldiers know what they’re doing. The army is becoming more right wing extreme, in step with the government. In Bilin yesterday a memorial ceremony took place for Jawaher Abu Rahmah, who was Bassem’s sister, and whose death was also caused two years ago by tear gas. She died of tear gas poisoning and asphyxiation.
The Facebook page has gone. Did anyone take a copy of it?
Of course. I’ll post the photos I have from it later tonight.
What is there exactly to investigate?
The was a video footage of the incident, and what happened is very clear.
Mr Tamimi ran after a jeep and hurled a rock at it,
The soldiers in the Jeeps fired a tear gas canister that hit him directly in the head, and he was killed on the spot.
There are lessons to be learned form this, that should have been already clear:
1. a tear gas canister can kill a person when fired directly from close range.
2. throwing rocks at military vehicles is dangerous.
Precisely the IDF’s approach as well. Congratulations, you see the world the same blindered way. What’s to investigate? You clearly have’t read my post or ignored the inconvenient parts which noted it is a direct violation of IDF rules to fire this weapon at close range directly at an individual. Second, the Supreme Court has also banned it. That doesn’t stop IDF officers and soldiers from doing precisely the opposite, which indicates the IDF is supporting direct violation of its own rules of engagement. That means that both the killer & his commanders should all be tried for violating IDF rules.
But they won’t be because murder is accepted, even rewarded in the IDF. What to investigate indeed.
You also neglected to comment on the fact that rock-throwing has apparently become a capital offense under IDF guidelines. Can you show us the rule that says soldiers may execute Palestinians for rock-throwing?
If this incident took place in the US, you can bet your ass there would be an investigation, and possibly a grand jury.
Amazing how little the lives of Palestinians matter to zionists. Nimrod is a perfect example. His sense of fairness is so skewed that he seems to think it’s OK to kill a person (Palestinian of course) via illegal means, for throwing a rock.
And Israel whines about rockets from Gaza while such acts as what happened to Mr. Tamimi happen daily under this occupation. I am happy to provide substantiation of this claim if anyone wants it.
nimrod by name nimrod by nature eh??
Yes the rise of the military rabbis is worrying. I read that in at least one unit the ram’s horn was blown before it went into Gaza during Cast lead. Murder had to be sanctified.
“According to Reserve Gen Nehemia Dagan, what is happening in the army is far more dangerous than most Israelis realise: “We (soldiers) used to be able to put aside our own ideas in order to do what we had to do. It didn’t matter if we were religious or from a kibbutz. But that’s not the case anymore.
“The morals of the battlefield cannot come from a religious authority. Once it does, it’s Jihad. I know people will not like that word but that’s what it is, Holy War. And once it’s Holy War there are no limits.” ”
Exactly.
Do any of these people ever worry about how such things are perceived outside Israel or was the late Tony Judt right in saying that Israel had become “autistic” – that it can no longer see what impression its activities make on the outside world and that it has lost touch with reality?
When people do realize how things are perceived outside Israel, many seem to have a defense mechanism in place, whereby the outside world’s views are automatically regarded as stemming from anti-Semitism. So these views can be ignored as irrational. Such an imaginary idea of being universally hated by everyone who is not Jewish not only means you have lost touch with reality, but also promotes treating everyone as an enemy. Pretty destructive.
Why is it that whenever we see someone claiming to stand for peace it is inevitably someone like Mr. Silverstein, mounting a broken down milk crate to spit on Israel? Where is the blame directed at “Palestinians”? Mr. Silverstein’s childish theatrics only promotes more violence. “Ooops, just linked to the wrong Facebook page, so what if I accused an innocent man of murder? What does it matter?” So typical, so sad.
I don’t spit on Israel. But I do spit on murderers and haters. Israel unfortunately has its share, some of whom are Sergeants, some generals, and some prime ministers. But Israel? No.