The Israeli army wants us to believe that there is a “high probability” that one of its soldiers from the elite unit Duvdevan (“cherry” in Hebrew) got confused and thought that journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was a militant. armed Palestinian (because of the helmet on his head and the flak jacket he was wearing).
For this he would have shot her from a telescopic sight capable of magnifying to the power of four from inside the armored jeep where he was sitting, killing her during an operation in Jenin last 11 May.
From a civilian, not a military point of view, two conclusions can be drawn from the Israeli cover-up of the case, which the military has called an “internal investigation”. One is that if a soldier really cannot distinguish between journalists and armed militants, and if his commanders allow him to continue firing ten bullets at the journalist despite his confusion, then it means that the army is pretty bad.
“Confusion” scheduled
The second possibility is that this “confusion” is made possible by the fact that the army, commanders and soldiers have a deep and growing contempt for the lives of Palestinian civilians. In short, the military is programmed to be “confused” and make these kinds of mistakes, precisely because it has been inculcated with the idea that they are the victims, while it is the Palestinian civilian population living under occupation that is criminal.
The announcement of the unit of army spokespersons on the conclusions of the new investigation into the murder of the journalist, who had experience in following military operations and raids, overlooks how the same soldier or one of his comrades also hit the journalist before her killing Ali al Samoudi, injuring him in the shoulder.
The communiqué and media reports also overlooked the fact that, just minutes before the lethal shooting, the group of reporters – wearing helmets and body armor – passed by the soldiers’ armored vehicles. “We passed in front of them clearly visible at a distance of 200 meters, we wanted them to see us and recognize us as journalists,” veteran reporter Al Samoudi told Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem. Like his colleague Abu Akleh, Al Samoudi had already followed several such events and knew what precautions were needed to stay safe.
Two other journalists present in Jenin who provided testimonies to the NGO – Shatha Hanaysha and Mujahid al Saadi – underlined how their behavior was aimed at reassuring the soldiers in the jeeps by making them understand that they were journalists. If there was a battle going on, they would not have quietly walked past the armed vehicles.
According to the army, the soldier fired about twenty bullets, of which ten towards the area where Abu Akleh was located. According to B’Tselem, the soldiers fired at least 16 bullets in the direction of the reporter. One of the first six allegedly injured Al Samoudi, who ran to take cover behind a parked car.
Three other journalists, including Abu Akleh, have instead moved away from where they were. Then seven shots were fired at them, and one hit Abu Akleh in the head from behind. A Palestinian civilian tried to take her away and the soldiers fired three more bullets in their direction. Was it a single soldier who fired, or more? We do not know.
Resistance without reason
There are five conditions necessary for the killing or wounding of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) to go unnoticed, and not lead to complications in terms of reporting. In the case of Abu Akleh, four were met.
The first is that the Israeli public must believe the long-told tale about the cowboys, the IDF soldiers, who go into battle in the West Bank against an equally strong enemy. And who fight in symmetrical clashes with the Palestinians, who have no reason to resist the military invasions of their towns and neighborhoods.
The new cover-up speaks of intense fire directed at the military vehicles in which the soldiers were seated. It is true that many young Palestinians, especially in the Jenin area and the refugee camp, have obtained weapons with which they vowed not to allow the Israeli military to carry out raids without encountering resistance, as if they were hunters on safari.
From time to time these gunmen are seen on TV and certainly they can appear threatening. Masked faces, imposing weapons, sometimes even manage to hit a soldier. But the fact that they are considered heroes by the Palestinians and that they are willing to sacrifice their lives by challenging an enemy with advanced and sophisticated weaponry does not make up for the fact that they lack two fundamental ingredients: they do not exercise and do not work on the continuous development of new tactics. of combat in guerrilla conditions.
What battle are we talking about?
Military sources who followed the “investigation” and were cited by the media spoke of a thumping, indiscriminate and potentially lethal shooting aimed at soldiers during the battle. No one can doubt the subjective fear of the soldiers, but how can one credit an account in which it almost seems that the military are innocent civilians who happened to be in that area by accident? Videos shot in real time and disseminated by international media including CNN and the New York Times show that no battle was in progress at the time of the shooting of the two journalists launched by the “confused” soldier. If bullets really hit the jeeps, it wasn’t happening at that stage. What battle are they talking about?
The second necessary condition for the death of a Palestinian to go unnoticed is the automatic pilot by which Israeli public opinion discredits any Palestinian testimony and any independent investigation, whether by the international media or human rights organizations. Even after the publication of all the journalistic insights, the IDF can still hide behind terms such as “erroneously” and “high probability”. This is also because she feels protected by the fact that Israelis do not heed any Palestinian conclusions.
The third condition is Israelis disinterest in the growing number of Palestinian civilians killed or injured by Israeli soldiers or border police officers, suggesting the use of very loose rules of engagement. B’Tselem documents each case, some incidents reach the attention of Haaretz readers, and that’s it. The growing numbers do not sound any alarm bells – neither among the public nor in the knesset, prosecutors and courts. Why then should the IDF change its course and revise its protocols?
Colonization guardians
The fourth condition is that Israeli public opinion considers the mission of the security forces – the army, intelligence and police – as guardians and protectors of the colonization enterprise to be natural and normal. As the settlement project is expanding without international opposition, more and more Israelis are benefiting directly or indirectly – an apparent normalcy that Palestinians, including unarmed protesters, sometimes dare to disturb.
And since in almost all Israeli homes there is a son-soldier with whom one automatically identifies, the cognitive ability to question this false normality is compromised and paralyzed. The soldier is always right. That is why even the IDF is always right (unless, of course, the commanders mistreat the soldiers or give them food that is considered inedible. In that case the parents scream scandal).
The fifth condition is the anonymity of the Palestinian victims. When an Israeli is wounded in any Palestinian attack, he or she is instantly recognized and dear to the Israeli public. His life story becomes known, and his social context is immediately understood without the need for many words.
When the dead and wounded are Palestinians, even if their names are published they remain strangers, none of the few known details can arouse associations of affection and identification among Israelis. In the case of Abu Akleh, this is exactly the condition that was not fulfilled. She was both an American citizen and an icon for hundreds of millions of viewers of the Al Jazeera television channel. She has also become famous for those who did not know her before.
However, this was not enough to prevent the IDF from covering up the case. The very fact that the defense forces ignored Palestinian video documentation and eyewitness accounts, published by authoritative international media, raises questions about the real reason for the cover-up.
Was it a confused soldier (or two) who made a mistake, or was the light finger on the trigger part of a routine? Perhaps a routine that the IDF has no intention of changing, because it is a means by which it ensures the “governability” necessary to advance the colonization enterprise.
(Translation by Davide Lerner)