|
PMWATCH -- April 26, 2002 -- Once again, as has been
happening for the last twenty months, the IDF shoots and kills
young boys. And, as usual, the media falls into step and reports that
the boys were killed in "clashes" or while they were undertaking
an attack against settlers.
And yet, it has been a well-documented fact that the IDF has
been systematically killing children, willfully, deliberately,
in cold blood, time and again.
Indeed, in his breakthrough article,
"A
Gaza Diary", published in the October issue of Harper's
Magazine, NYTimes journalist Chris Hedges describes in detail
how, every afternoon around 4 o'clock, units of the IDF would
come to the edge of the Khan Yunis refugee camp, mount loud speakers
on armor vehicles and start hurtling ugly insults at young boys
of 11 and 12. When the boys start throwing stones at the soldiers,
the soldiers open fire, often killing one or two Palestinian children.
And do this every day, day after day.
The accounts
Chris Hedges gives in his article are no revelations to those
on the ground: they have been saying for decades that the IDF
has an active policy of provoking Palestinians. But the accounts
so far have been dismissed as crass propaganda or wild exaggerations
by people with an axe to grind. Now, a respected journalist --
no less than the ex-Mideast Bureau Chief of the NYTimes -- is
reporting exactly that: that the IDF is provoling CHILDREN and
then shooting them to kill!
And yet, so
far, very few mention in the US media has been made about Mr.
Hedges' socking revelations: no follow up stories to corroborate
or refute him, and no outcries of indignation from the US media
about this grotesque practice by the IDF. And this from the media
of a country that provides billions of annual financial
aid to Israel and its military!
Mr. Hedges
repeated his revelation on October 30, 2001, in his interview
at NPR. Here is a crucial excerpt:
And
I walked out towards the dunes and they were--the--over the
loudspeaker from an Israeli army Jeep on the other side of
the electric fence they were taunting these kids. And these
kids started to throw rocks. And most of these kids were 10,
11, 12 years old. And, first of all, the rocks were the size
of a fist. They were being hurled towards a Jeep that was
armor-plated. I doubt they could even hit the Jeep. And then
I watched the soldiers open fire. And it was--I mean, I've
seen kids shot in Sarajevo. I mean, snipers would shoot kids
in Sarajevo. I've seen death squads kill families in Algeria
or El Salvador. But I'd never seen soldiers bait or taunt
kids like this and then shoot them for sport. It was--I just--even
now, I find it almost inconceivable. And I went back every
day, and every day it was the same.
[Full transcript: http://64.226.129.19/pmw/manager/features/display_message.asp?mid=487
]
The
media clearly has absolutely no acceptable excuse for their silence:
no matter what security concerns Israel may have, no matter how
much it feels it must protect itself, nothing --- NOTHING! --
justifies the deliberate, calculated, cold-blooded killing of
children, and NOTHING can justify the media's immoral silence
over this immoral practice.
Please
do your duty and press the media to take a stand on this important
question NOW!
Make
sure that your email address and name are correct.
Other
related actions:
Palestine
Media Watch -- http://www.pmwatch.org
-- (610) 993 - 0608
|
|
|
