Israel is claiming that it fired the second missile only because the first one missed the car: “civilians were detected only after it was on course – and if missile has been redirected it could have hit even more bystanders.”
Why bother lying? To have a good laugh about doing so later?
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
13 June 2006:
“The missile directly hit the car, killing the two members of the al-Quds Brigades: Hammouda al-Wadiya; and Shawqi al-Saiqali. Palestinian civilians living in the area gathered around the car and two paramedics from the nearby hospital came to provide first medical aid. Immediately, IOF aircrafts launched another missile at the car, killing 10 civilians, including a man, his two children and the two paramedics.”
According to Reuters:
“Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles. The first hit the vehicle, causing it to crash into the pavement. A second hit as a crowd gathered and rescuers arrived.
Hospital officials said nine civilians, including two children and two medics, were killed as well as two Islamic Jihad militants. About 30 people were wounded.”
According to the Washington Post
Witnesses said a second missile, fired seven minutes later as a crowd gathered to help the wounded, sprayed shrapnel into the tin-roofed home of Ashraf al-Mughrabi, a 31-year-old barber, who was standing outside his front door. The blast killed him instantly, as well as his 6-year-old son, Maher, and his 13-year-old nephew, Hisham. Nisreen al-Mughrabi, Ashraf’s wife, was severely wounded.
Also killed in the explosion were three Palestinian medics who had rushed to the scene from the Mohammed al-Dura Children’s Hospital a block away after hearing the first blast. Earlier reports indicated that four medics were killed. Several remain hospitalized.
Hours later, an angry funeral procession led by armed men from the Fatah party, to which Ashraf al-Mughrabi belonged, paraded to his home, bearing aloft his body on a makeshift stretcher, along with his son’s body.
“They were like family, our comrades,” Leila Fatoum, 39, an assistant administrator at the hospital, said of her colleagues.
Nigel Perry recalls that when he lived in Ramallah in the mid-nineties the press mechanically filed reports that were devoid of context. (via)
At these clashes, the Israeli soldiers would do things that boggled the mind. They would trade curses with the young Palestinians, laughing and shouting with other soldiers. They would shoulder their rifles and throw stones at the Palestinians. They would make animal sounds, grunting and jumping around like monkeys, inciting the Palestinians to venture out of cover. The soldiers would use live ammunition and “less lethal” ammunition (such as rubber-coated metal bullets) simultaneously, thus negating the very reason that troops are issued with the “less lethal” munitions.
Out of nowhere, when the energy of the clashes seemed to be dissipating, a soldier would suddenly shoot a child or teenager, 100 meters away from them or more and in front of you. Next time you find yourself in an open space with no people around, see how far you can throw a stone. You’ll find it to be considerably less than 100 meters.
Let me be clear. The events I am describing, in the clashes where people died, were not the exception. They were the rule. And not one soldier was ever punished.
Video Shows Marine Singing About Killing Iraqis
And finally in Iraq, the US military is facing a new scandal over the conduct of its soldiers. A video has been released showing a man who appears to be a Marine performing to applauding troops. He sings a song about killing Iraqis. The undated video comes at a time the US military is dealing with the fallout over allegations it massacred civilians in Haditha and Ishaqi. The Pentagon says it’s investigating. Human rights groups condemned the video Tuesday.
YouTube has removed the video, Hadji Girl, but CAIR is hosting it. That Marine is probably doing SRO shows whenever raping and pillaging permits.
Unless the debate on these occupations concentrates on the mundanely obvious and disavows the jingoistic slop that excuses the atrocities, they will grow bloodier and uglier by the second. Soldiers get the joke. Who’s laughing?