A few nights ago I was watching Al Jazeera television’s live interview of John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for the UN Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA). Mr. Ging was on the phone from the main UN compound in Gaza city. While he was being interviewed, Israelis shelled the UN compound injuring three UN workers and lighting on fire food stored in the UN warehouse. This was food that UNRWA distributes to Gazans so they can stay alive. The shelling of the UN compound followed other similar attacks on UN schools as well as Gaza’s hospitals.
Today, a Palestinian doctor was being interviewed live on Israel’s Channel 10 when his house was shelled by the IDF. The shelling killed three of his daughters, his brother, and two of his brother’s children. The video above shows the conversation between the Israeli journalist and the Palestinian doctor after the shells hit. The conversation is in Hebrew, but you don’t need to understand the language to know what is going in. Assaf at Daily Kos, who wrote about this before the Associated Press picked up the story this evening, provides the translated transcript.
The Palestinian doctor had been reporting regularly to Israel’s Channel 10 throughout the conflict from his home in Gaza. Yet, a day or so before Israel is set to stop the massacre, his family is murdered. The standard IDF excuse is that a sniper fired from either his building or near his building and the IDF was responding with tank shells. It seems to me that either the Israeli military is horribly incompetent and cannot shoot straight or the IDF’s rules of engagement have no regard for civilians in Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian law and the laws of war. All evidence points to the latter explanation.
In an unusual gesture, Israel has, at the urging of Channel 10, allowed an ambulance to evacuate the doctor’s surviving family out of the Gaza Strip and onto Israeli hospitals. It is small consolation to a man who just had three of his daughters murdered.
The death toll now stands at least 1170 Gazans killed, at least one third of whom are children. The IDF claims that they have killed about 300 Hamas militants. If the IDF’s figures of Hamas militants killed are to be believed, Israel has slaughtered one child for every Hamas militant they have killed. That is not war. That is murder.
What we have winessed over the past week was murder in Gaza. As ususal America was outof touch with its one sided ness. Israel has just bombed the Palestine back into the stone age with out mercy. When would The United States and Israel see that Diplomacy and not gigantic show of militarry might wins hearts and minds. What Israel did in the Gaza strip in nothing short of terrorism, butchery, barbarism bullyism. Please not start with the past 8 months, please return to 1948, or 1963. The war with Israel and Hammas goes beyond the last 8 months. Stop insulting us with cherry picking that time. Isreal has been chocking the Palestinian people from since its years. It is time both parties work on solving this crisis diplomatically and stop the innocent loss of lives. What has Israel accomplised with the last two wars. If I has to answer that question I would say the same thing that the United States have accomplised in Iraq which is NOTHING and the senseless loss of lives.
I admire your sentiments, and it is clear that you have at least tried to educate yourself a bit on the issues.
So I hope that you are patient with my next comments.
Israel DID NOT MANTAIN A CEASEFIRE for years.
“It turns out that Hamas did not break the cease-fire that started in June with rocket attacks on Israel.
It was Israel that attacked Gaza on Nov. 4.
Between the June 18 cease-fire agreement and Nov. 4, there were 15 rocket attacks from Gaza, which an Israeli spokesman agreed were not fired by Hamas. ”
It’s important to note that NONE of Israel’s claims or supporters bothers to give details about the number of rockets per year or the groups that claimed responsibility.
It’s the art of disinformation and Israel like Nazi Germany is a master at it.
Israel violated INTERNATIONAL LAW with the ILLEGAL blockade of Gaza and still Hamas did not fire its rockets.
Rockets were fired by Hamas ONLY AFTER Israel’s latest breach of the truce on Nov. 4 in which Israel violated Gaza’s border and murdered four Gazans.
Rockets that were fired came from other groups and Hamas repeatedly asked for investigations and peacekeepers to stop those weapons.
ISRAEL REFUSED to permit ANY EXTENRAL investigations and ANY EXTERNAL peacekeepers from being deployed in Gaza.
Just as it refuses to permit any external press from reporting on Israeli actions in the West Bank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNa1kV4O9A
Israel will never live side-by-side with anyone in peace as long as they cling to a race based state policy.
Peace requires respect for others. Racism is the antithesis of respect for others.
Israeli racism leads to the daily occurrence of children being stoned on their way to school, of the elderly being used as target practice by IDF soldiers, of crops, orchards, and other non-Israel dependent sources of food being destroyed without compensation, of houses being destroyed.
And these acts have occurred non-stop for the last 60 years.
The saddest part about the events in Gaza is that we are seeing a race-based response from Western nations to Israel’s atrocities.
In the Sudan, where blacks are attacking blacks then sanctions are imposed, troops must be placed, etc.
When Russia entered Georgia last October, it was IMMEDIATELY censured by the West, and aid INCLUDING MILTARY supplies was sent to Georgia. Threats were made against Russia to shut off funding, and impose sanctions even though Russia CAUSED LESS LOSS OF LIFE in Georgia than Israel has caused in Gaza.
However when Israel causes death, fires on international targets, kills medical personnel, shoots ambulances, uses banned weapons, attacks the freedom of the press by preventing journalists from seeing the Israeli actions for themselves, and rams relief vessels trying to bring food and medical aid, the West gives Israel a few harsh words, and EVEN MORE MONEY and weapons.
The message is clear.
If non-whites are attacking each other, then something should be done to stop it.
If white are attacking whites then something MUST be done to stop it.
However if whites are attacking non-whites, then the murder and violation of international laws are apparently all justifiable because those non-whites are just so horrible.
I don’t believe that this message is one that most Westerners would agree with, but it is DEFINIATELY the one that they are letting their governments send to the world.
Now the US networks bring us news of Israel and a defunct Bush led government LITERALLY hugging and patting each other on the back because they signed an agreement to “prevent arms from reaching terrorists” even though they invited NO ONE from Palestine and not even one Arab.
Of course, the illegal Israeli blockade that prevents food and medicine from being delivered was not addressed.
Responsibility for providing shelter for the TENS OF THOUSANDS without shelter was not addressed.
The deliberate RAMMING and attempted destruction by Israel of aid vessels from OTHER COUNTRIES was not addressed.
When Georgia was attacked by Russia after Georgia had killed HUNDREDS OF RUSSIANS the previous night, the U.S. and other white countries rushed to give GEORGIA aid including weapons.
What other message can honest people get from these events except that the lives of people of color do not matter as much as the lives of white people? Even to the extent that they are not invited to participate in affairs that concern them.
can you spell ‘ethnic cleansing’? On but of course, that only happens in Africa..my bad!
unbelievable..arrogant arrogant arrogant..
Ingrid
The Paletinian people in Gaza got what they voted in – Hamas. In the 3.5 years since Israel left Gaza, Hamas invested in infrastructure and weapons to continue to destroy Israel instead of investing in Gaza and in their own people. Instead of teaching their children dreams of how it could be, that taught hatred. The reaped what they sow.
Great post! Thanks, Mash.
http://secretdhaka.wordpress.com/
Interesting how Jews post oblivious to the fact that their murderous country commits murder and mayhem 24/7 in Gaza.
Then comes-a-long Mumbai, and again they cry about life’s cruelties against and unfairness against the eternal ‘victim’ Jews.
Whats the matter with these ‘locos?’ 🙁
I say, Messr Ahmadinejad, you have just been re-elected and now is the time to add another 5,000 centrufuges and let’s hope that by Hannakah you can fill the stratosphere over the Middle East with a huge cloud of radioactive kosher confetti and give the Palestinians a well deserved Judenrein Middle East for Christmas! 🙂
TheAZCowBoy
Tombstone, AZ.
heitää on kivakivakivaa<3