Per Version: The Supposed Shooting of A Palestinian Child
A few hours go, both Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post reported the death of a 10-year-old palestinian boy in an exchange of fire between Hamas terrorists and IDF troops in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah, based on the testimony of palestinian medics. Ha’aretz subsequently changed his age to 7.
But leaving aside this age discrepancy, the really curious thing was when I checked the palestinian news outlets such as Ma’an, Ramattan, and WAFA, there were no reports of a child being killed. In fact, Ma’an reported that a child – presumably the same one – had been seriously injured east of Deir Al-Balah after being “hit by a stray gunshot.” And at the time of this post, this is still what Ma’an is reporting.
In the meantime, Ramattan are now reporting the death of a 7-year-old child called Mohammed Abu Al-Sha’ar, killed in Deir Al-Balah after “having been shot in the head,”while WAFA is reporting that 10-year-old Tamer Abu Sha’ar was killed in Khan Younis, after being “hit in the head by an Israeli sniper who took position in high building.”
So once again, we have different versions of the same supposed event. I have summarized the different versions in this table, which include other discrepancies in addition to those I have already mentioned:
| Ha’aretz | JPost | Ma’an | WAFA | Ramattan | |
| Age of child | 7 | 10 | Not mentioned | 10 | 7 |
| Name of child | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Tamir Abu Sha’ar | Tamer Abu Sha’ar | Mohammed Abu Al-Sha’ar |
| Current state of child | Dead | Dead | Seriously injured | Dead | Dead |
| Location of shooting | Deir el-Balah | Deir el-Balah | East of Deir Al-Balah | Khan Younis | Deir Al-Balah |
| How shot | Caught in crossfire | Caught in crossfire | By stray gunshot | Shot and hit in the head by an Israeli sniper who took position in a high building | Shot in head |
| Others wounded | 2 children, same place | 2 minors, same place | 2 others, in Abasan, near Khan Younis | “Two others”, same place | “Several others”, same place |
As always, it seems interesting to me that something as straightforward as the killing of a palestinian child should be reported so differently, based on information from palestinian sources. Interesting, but hardly surprising.
My conclusion remains the same: the palestinians are lying about it, and the discrepancies result from the fact that the different palestinian sources did not take the time to fully synchronize their stories.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: Uncategorized
It looks like a kid was killed, but chances are he was killed from Palestinian Arab bullets.
The wire services show their biases very nicely with this story.
There is a picture of the body now.
The only matter is who shot him. I’d suspect that Elder is correct on this.
I agree with both of you – he was likely killed in the crossfire, possibly by a palestinian.
Sorry:
“something as straightforward as the killing of a palestinian child”
is just not a phrase which I can read without wincing. With the best will in the world and all understanding of how it isn’t our fault, this is still a tragedy, not something to be talked about in a flippant manner.
You’re talking to the wrong side, Kibi.
Palestinian child abuse slide show.
Kibi,
You are way off the mark, and in fact read it in exactly the opposite way to which it was intended. The point is that you would expect something like the killing of a child to be reported consistently.