'Confirmed kill' case: Full acquittal

[Scurrilous]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3169693,00.html

Southern Command military court acquitted Tuesday of all charges an IDF captain who was accused of violating army rules by shooting at the body of 13-year-old Palestinian girl he feared was sent by terrorists

<snip>

"The Southern Command military court acquitted Tuesday of all charges an IDF captain who was accused of violating army rules by shooting at the body of 13-year-old Palestinian girl he feared was sent by terrorists.

The captain was charged of improper use of his weapon.

The scandal broke out on October 5, 2004, when news surfaced that the IDF Captain, whose name cannot be revealed, had fired at the dead body of a Palestinian school girl to confirm her death.

On that day, soldiers spotted a figure entering a military zone near the Israel-Egypt border and shots were fired from a base on the
Philadelphi route. The captain and a number of soldiers left the base to inspect the body, which appeared to belong to a female pupil carrying a school bag.

The case caused a firestorm when rumors had it that although the girl was dead when the soldiers reached the scene, the captain emptied a magazine on her body to confirm her death when he suspected that her bag was booby-trapped. An ensuing search revealed that the bag was filled with textbooks."


Related links:


IDF kills girl, 13, on her way to school

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=79118


IDF suspends commander implicated in death of girl, 13

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=79293


IDF asks to exhume remains of Gaza girl in 'confirmed kill' case

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=80920

[eyl]

1. Further

In February 2005, a main witness decided to withdraw his initial testimony against the suspect, accusing soldiers in the base of providing false testimonies to harm the captain, whose strictness they disliked.

Unable to reach a conclusive verdict, a team of military judges visited the scene of the incident under heavy security and listened to the suspect's version of events. A review of a video tape recorded by the army on October 5, 2004, showed a suspicious figure in the area as the girl approached the base.

This missing link supported the captain's testimony that he feared the girl was sent by terrorists to draw IDF soldiers out of the base and carry out a shooting attack.

Tuesday's ruling brought an end a legal inquiry that lasted a year and drew unprecedented media attention and speculations.

However, it is estimated that the prosecution is planning to file an appeal.

There are some more details in the Haaretz article (which as of writing this hasn't been translated yet), among other things that several of the prosecution witnesses admitted to giving false testimony.

[Englander]

2. From the archives;

'A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame

Chris McGreal in Rafah
Thursday October 21, 2004
The Guardian

The undisputed facts are these: it was broad daylight, 13-year-old Iman al-Hams was wearing her school uniform, and when she walked into the Israeli army's "forbidden zone" at the bottom of her street she was carrying her satchel. A few minutes later the short, slight child was pumped with bullets. Doctors counted at least 17 wounds and said much of her head was destroyed.

Beyond that there is little agreement between the army top brass and Palestinian witnesses as to how Iman came to die last week, or even among members of the military unit responsible for killing the child in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp.

Palestinian witnesses described the shooting as cold-blooded. They say soldiers could not have failed to see they were firing at a child, and she was killed as she already lay wounded and helpless.

"Some soldiers were lying on the ground and shooting very heavily toward her," said Basim Breaka, who saw the killing from her living room. "Then one of the soldiers walked to her and emptied his clip into her. For sure she died on the second or third bullet. I could see her lying on the ground, not moving. I can't imagine why that soldier wanted to shoot her after she was dead."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1332219,00.html

______________________________________


Iman: Executing another child in Rafah
Omar Barghouti, The Electronic Intifada, 29 October 2004

Iman al-Hams was a 13-year old refugee schoolgirl who was executed -- after being wounded -- by an Israeli platoon commander on the sad sands of Rafah.

According to testimonies given by soldiers in the same company to the mass Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, a soldier in the watchtower identified Iman and cautioned his commander shouting, "Don't shoot. It's a little girl." The company commander, the soldiers testified,

"approached her, shot two bullets into her , walked back towards the force, turned back to her, switched his weapon to automatic and emptied his entire magazine into her."(1)

Eyewitnesses corroborated the soldiers' account, saying that Iman was shot almost 70 meters away from the Israeli military position. After a bullet hit her leg, Iman, who was wearing her school uniform, fell. Then, they said, the officer went over to her, saw that she was bleeding from her wounds, but still shot her twice in the head to "confirm the killing," an Israeli euphemism for the practice of executing a wounded Palestinian. A cursory army investigation later cleared him of any "unethical" conduct, as is customary, and suspended him only because of "poor relations with subordinates."(2)

In a flash, Israel proved to the world -- yet again -- that it is not only intransigent in its patent and consistent violation of international law, but also incapable of adhering to the most fundamental principles of moral behavior.

http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/10/3260

[Englander]

3. IDF court acquits officer accused of 'confirming kill' of Gaza girl

By Nir Hasson and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service

The Southern Command court on Tuesday acquitted Israel Defense Forces Captain "R" of all charges relating to the killing of a Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip in October 2004.

The case received wide-spread media attention when R was suspected of "confirming the kill" and shooting the girl multiple times once she had already been hit by IDF gunfire and was lying on the ground.

R, of the Givati infantry brigade, was charged with manslaughter in the death of 13-year-old Iman al-Hamas. He was also charged with the illegal use of his weapon and with obstruction of court proceedings after asking his soldiers to alter testimonies they provided to military investigators probing the incident.

Further, R was charged with exceeding his authority while endangering life for the changes he implemented to open-fire regulations in the Gaza outpost under his command.

Al-Hamas was shot dead by IDF soldiers commanded by Captain R after she approached their "Girit" outpost adjacent to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/645818.html

[DELUSIONAL]

4. Things like this have made me lose any respect that I had for

the government of Israel. Sharon should be judged in the Hague for war crimes.

It is obvious that there are two standards of justice and that the Palestinians have zero worth as humans to many of the Israeli war pigs.

Sad -- that now it seems the current US government is working for Israel.

I am really sick and tired of my tax dollars going to prop up the racist government of Israel.

Any cut backs should be to the blood money being sent to Israel -- as long as the US does their bidding they will remain "friends". But when a stronger -- richer suitor comes along Israel will flit off like a common whore.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. and do you....

...have the same problem with your tax dollars propping up Egypt?

[newyorican]

6. I hope the cockpit door is reinforced...

*studies map* Hmmmm....

Shooting/Cold-blooded murder occurred in Gaza...

Travesty of Justice occurred in Israel....

But someone wants to talk about Egypt. Go figure.

[4freethinking]

11. Egypt

is not pumping little girls bodies full of led. The cost Egypt goes to Israel since it's a pay off/bribe for signing the Camp David Accords. Peace subsidized by the US taxpayer for the benefit of Israel. If they want real peace let it come by their own willingness to be good neighbors, not our tax dollars.

[Tom Joad]

14. Why not end all military aid to the Middle East?

Even if the US were to also cut all economic aid to all the countries in the Middle East, i think the people would be better off in the long run. Folks could get rid of their oppressors (or occupiers, as the case may be).

[Englander]

7. From the Guardian;

'Not guilty. The Israeli captain who put 17 bullets into a Palestinian schoolgirl

· Officer ignored warnings that teenager was terrified
· Defence says 'confirming the kill' standard practice

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday November 16, 2005
The Guardian

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.

The soldier, who has only been identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.

The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.

After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1643573,00.html

[The Magistrate]

8. This Verdict, Sir, Is A Travesty

[Englander]

9. Indeed it is. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

12. A not unpredictable travesty....

Which for me makes it even worse :(

Violet...

[Englander]

10. 'The Dehumanization Campaign'

Even killing children is no big deal any more

by Gideon Levy
October 19, 2004

More than 30 Palestinian children were killed in the first two weeks of Operation Days of Penitence in the Gaza Strip. It's no wonder that many people term such wholesale killing of children "terror." Whereas in the overall count of all the victims of the intifada the ratio is three Palestinians killed for every Israeli killed, when it comes to children the ratio is 5:1. According to B'Tselem, the human rights organization, even before the current operation in Gaza, 557 Palestinian minors (below the age of 18) were killed, compared to 110 Israeli minors.

Palestinian human rights groups speak of even higher numbers: 598 Palestinian children killed (up to age 17), according to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, and 828 killed (up to age 18) according to the Red Crescent. Take note of the ages, too. According to B'Tselem, whose data are updated until about a month ago, 42 of the children who have been killed were 10; 20 were seven; and eight were two years old when they died. The youngest victims are 13 newborn infants who died at checkpoints during birth.

With horrific statistics like this, the question of who is a terrorist should have long since become very burdensome for every Israeli. Yet it is not on the public agenda. Child killers are always the Palestinians, the soldiers always only defend us and themselves, and the hell with the statistics.

The plain fact, which must be stated clearly, is that the blood of hundreds of Palestinian children is on our hands. No tortuous explanation by the IDF Spokesman's Office or by the military correspondents about the dangers posed to soldiers by the children, and no dubious excuse by the public relations people in the Foreign Ministry about how the Palestinians are making use of children will change that fact. An army that kills so many children is an army with no restraints, an army that has lost its moral code.

More at;
Z Mag

[eyl]

13. An interview with Captain R, as well

as a description o the verdict, was published in Ma'ariv's weekend supplement (Hebrew link). I intended to translate part of it, but my browser crashed in the middle and it's too long to redo right now, so I just want to point out a few things determined in the verdict:

1) Initially, R's radio was switched off, which he did not notice until he began chargin; therefore, he could not have heard the observation post's identification of Al-Hams as a little girl.
2) Al-Hams was only spotted near the gate of the outpost, having had to cross an open area to reach it. The school was in a completely different direction, and there had been virtually no "civilian traffic" in that open zone over the last four years - something confirmed by the obeservation post's commander
3) The procedure used was something titles "neutralization of kill", which as I understand involves firing suppressing fire at the vicinity of the target, rather than at it; the head of the Operations Division testified that the procedure was often misamed "confirmation of kill" (which properly refers to something else) by soldiers in the field.
4) Al-Hams dropped her bag at the gate to the outpost. According to media publications, the bag contained books; in fact, the bag was never opened, and, at the sappers' determination, was buried by a D9 tractor rather than risk opening it.
5) R's utterance to "shoot anyone moving, even if it's a three-year-old", which was given over the radio while the incident was ongoing and he was giving instructions to deal with the bag, was determined by the court to be an exaggeration for emphasis, rather than a change in the open-fire orders.
6) The Arabic Internet site "Standing Firm", which collates statements by "resistance" leaders, had, the following morning, an interview with Al-Hams' mother and a friend, who say she told them several times she wished to avenge the death of a schoolmate. The interview was later removed from the site.
7) The judges pointed out the "bad atmosphere" in the company, on the background of attempts by R to impose discipline, as well as on the part of several soldiers slated to be punished, leading to false testimony being brought against him.
8) The judges also criticised the Military Police investigators, claiming that they had been locked from the begining into a mindset, influenced by media publications, tha R was guilty, resulting in their ignoring "other directions of investigation", as well as not checking the veracity of the witnesses, who were later determined to have been lying.

[barb162]

15. Thank you for the translation; it points out several subtleties

in the case, excellent background information and an explanation of why he did what he did and the court's decision. It is a very sad story all around

[Englander]

16. He's not a very good liar, is he?

Or rather, the rest of his company, & whoever supplied the latest
fabrications to Ma'ariv are not v. good liars. I don't know, it's a
choice between 'R' & Gary Glitter* over who deserves the greater
censure, who is more of a threat to pre-teen schoolgirls.

*
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=63895

[eyl]

17. And you're basing that statement on what?

Given that, at least according to the finding so of the court, much of the "evidence" you and others have used to condemn him turned out to be false? Or, since he's Israeli, is he guilty until proven innocent?

Am I maintaining he's innocent? No. I don't know enough of the details of what happened, given that the prosecution witnesses turned out to have been giving false tstimony (something, BTW, which was already known a couple of days after the incident). The point is, neither do you; and in the type of warfare there is in that area, where Palestinian children even younger than Al-Hams have been involved in the fighting, you cannot axiomatically assume that she was innocent, as you might be able to in another situation.

[Englander]

18. Evidence.

That's all there is, given the number of false witnesses in this
instance, & the amount of fabrication, & non-evidence. Is the info
provided to Ma'ariv a version of the courts' decision, or have they
actually seen the documents? That is, was the article just an
interview with 'R', or an un-named source, or have they seen the
decision? All the extra stuff you've listed doesn't detract from the
injustice of the courts' decision, or alter anything imo. I think an
interesting philosophical exercise would be to imagine a scenario
where a idf member would be found guilty of 'illegal use of his weapon'
nevermind 'confirming the kill' of a Palestinian child. I just wonder
what it would take to obtain a guilty verdict. Afterall, is this not
correct - 'R' executed an innocent schoolgirl, Iman Alhamas.

--The point is, neither do you; and in the type of warfare there is in that area, where Palestinian children even younger than Al-Hams have been involved in the fighting, you cannot axiomatically assume that she was innocent, as you might be able to in another situation.--

Yes, you can, to do otherwise is to display prejudice.

[eyl]

19. The article

was an interview with R, but also quoted parts of the verdict, so I assume they say the document itself.

My point is, however, that you've decided R is guilty based solely on the fact (since the supporting evidence is apparently false) that the deceased was a child. This, however, ignores two important points:
1) You're unable to prove that R saw it was a child (she was under cover), much less determined her age (in his immediate after-action report, he described her as older)
2) Under most circustances, you can axiomatically assume that a child is innocent. Therefore, if someone shoots a child, he is guilty of some crime. However, ever since the advent of firearms and explosives, young children have had the physical capability of being combatants capable of inflicting lethal damage; and in this particular conflict, Palestinian children, including some younger than Al-Hams, have been involved as attackers. Pelsar, as I recall, recounted to you an incident, shortly before this one, where a child about Al-Hams' age stepped up to a group of soldiers with a schoolbag full of explosives; several children have been caught with explosives at the Hawara checkpoint; at least one eight-year-old was involved in an attack on a settlement; and so on. Therefore, you cannot automatically assume that her death was unwarranted, as you could under other circumstances.

[Scurrilous]

20. Well...

...according to one of the links in the OP, he did fail a lie detector test. So I'd say no, he isn't a very good liar.

[barb162]

21. Your link ?Vietnam to detain Gary Glitter for 4 months in sex case

????

[barb162]

22. Unsubstantiated assumptions and statements in your post

[newyorican]

23. Hell of a lot of rationalization...

very revealing...